Outline
Circulating report claims that the late Russell Johnson, who played Professor Roy Hinkley on Gilligan’s Island, has been identified as the notorious serial murderer known as the Zodiac Killer.
Brief Analysis
The claims in the report are nonsense. Russell Johnson has certainly not been identified as the Zodiac Killer. The report comes from the fake-news, ‘satirical’ website Empire News. Nothing published on Empire News should be taken seriously.
Example
In a scandal that has stunned the world, the late Russell Johnson, known for his role as Professor Roy Hinkley on the popular sitcom Gilligan’s Island, has been identified as the infamous Zodiac Killer. Johnson died of kidney failure this past January.
Detailed Analysis
According to a ‘shocking’ report, that has been making its way around the interwebs via social media since July 2014, late actor Russell Johnson has been identified as the notorious Zodiac Killer, a serial killer that operated in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
Russell Johnson was perhaps best known for his role as Professor Roy Hinkley on Gilligan’s Island.
According to the report, a funeral worker attending to Johnson’s body realized that Johnson was the Zodiac Killer and reported the matter to police.
However, the claims in the report are extremely poor taste lies. Russell Johnson certainly has not been identified as the Zodiac Killer.
The false report comes from the fake-news website Empire News. The site apparently imagines itself to be satirical and includes the following disclaimer on its About Page:
Empire News is a satirical and entertainment website. We only use invented names in all our stories, except in cases when public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental.
For the record, the identity of the Zodiac Killer remains unknown.
With an increasing number of fake-news websites appearing online, it is wise to check any ‘news’ reports that cross your social media feeds before you share them with your friends. If such stories are true, they can usually be quickly confirmed by searching on a news portal such as Google News.
