Ketchum Killer — Campground Murder in 1967

By: Shane Lambert
Original time of publication: October 23rd, 2026

The unsolved case of the Ketchum campground murder in 1967 is sometimes brought up in forums discussing the Zodiac Killer. In my opinion, it’s because the murder in Ketchum, from the summer of 1967, was committed by a man wearing a hood. That resembles the Zodiac’s Lake Berryessa attack.

Furthermore, the date of 1967 is not too far removed from the Zodiac’s 1968/1969 reign of terror in San Francisco. However, I don’t think the hooded man in the Ketchum campground was the Zodiac. I admit to lacking some confidence on this matter, mainly because my top pick for the Zodiac is a man from Idaho.

However, the murder in Ketchum appeared to be a botched robbery. The robber did not seem to be there to kill anyone and only did so when Glen Coppinger, who would die, approached the hooded man and a tussle ensued. I decided to post some of the original journalism from the time for other readers to compare.

One detail, besides the hood, that was Zodiac-like was the observation of behavior before the shooting. People having a fish fry in the area observed someone driving around and seemed to be a little suspicious of his activities. That kind of reminded me of people who saw a man driving around before the Zodiac’s Lake Herman Road attack. But on the balance of things, I do not think the Zodiac was the Ketchum campground hooded killer.

If you do your own newspaper searching, then “Ketchum Killer,” “Glen Coppinger,” “Glen A. Coppinger,” and “campground” are good search phrases to use.