Ted Cruz
The phrase “Zodiac Killer” started to trend on Twitter Tuesday evening after Sen. Ted Cruz, pictured March 7, 2015, dropped out of the presidential race. Getty Images

The internet can be a pretty weird place, especially when it claims U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas dropped out of the presidential race because he’s the infamous Zodiac Killer. Minutes after the politician bowed out, essentially leaving the GOP nomination for front-runner Donald Trump, the term “Zodiac Killer” began to trend on Twitter, gaining more than 30,000 mentions at the time this article was written.

The Zodiac Killer was a serial murderer whose identity remains unknown. He operated in Northern California in the late '60s and early '70s, which means it would be impossible for Cruz to be the killer since he was born Dec. 22, 1970.

But that hasn't stopped the gossip from gaining wings. The rumor was made afresh by Comedy Central "Nightly Show" host Larry Wilmore, who made “Zodiac Killer” references multiple times Saturday at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. “There is a joke going around the internet that Ted Cruz is actually the Zodiac Killer. I’m not making that up,” Wilmore said. “Come on, that’s absurd — some people actually liked the Zodiac Killer.”

“Recently Ted Cruz got a string of wins and endorsements, then everybody remembered who Ted Cruz is, the Zodiac Killer. Ted Cruz got zero delegates in New York, which is actually five more than I thought he would get — for the Zodiac Killer,” Wilmore added. “John Boehner came out of retirement and described Ted Cruz as ‘Lucifer in the flesh.’ Lucifer! I mean that is not fair, man. Lucifer is horrible but he’s not the Zodiac Killer.”

A day before Cruz stepped down, his wife, Heidi, addressed the accusation. “Well, I’ve been married to him for 15 years, and I know pretty well who he is, so it doesn’t bother me at all. There’s a lot of garbage out there,” she told Yahoo News.

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