A while ago I had a discussion with Thomas Horan on the YouTube channel of Ross Geraci called Planet X Filmworks, in which Thomas claimed that Michael Mageau was shot four times while in the backseat of Darlene Ferrin's Corvair and was never in the front seat of the vehicle. Here is that part of the discussion. Thomas also claimed that ten bullets had been fired (and therefore ten casings must have been ejected). Even though only nine casings were detailed in the police report, I will go with the notion that ten bullets were fired into the Corvair and show how it is impossible (even with an extra bullet) that Michael Mageau was shot while located exclusively in the backseat of the vehicle. 

The autopsy report clearly details 5 entry wounds to the mid-axillary and posterior-axillary line of Darlene Ferrin's right side. This means that 5 bullets entered the right side of her body. If Michael Mageau was shot four times in the back seat (because he had 4 entry wounds), this means that there is a total of 9 entry wounds and 9 bullets fired so far. We now have one bullet remaining (to complete the ten shots fired) to produce 4 entry wounds and four exit wounds to Darlene Ferrin's right and left arm, which again was detailed in the autopsy report here (or see below). Thomas Horan's claim of Michael Mageau being in the backseat throughout is therefore impossible from a ballistics standpoint. It's cannot happen with ten shots, never mind nine.

​The reason Darlene Ferrin had 9 entry wounds and 7 exit wounds is because the two shots fired at Michael Mageau in the front seat, passed through his body and entered Darlene Ferrin. They were two of the bullets that entered her right side, producing 5 entry wounds to her torso. Add these 5 entry wounds to the 4 entry wounds in her arms and we have a total of 9 entry wounds. Of the 5 entry wounds to her torso, 3 exited her body on the left side. Add these 3 exit wounds to the 4 exit wounds in her arms and we have a total of 7 exit wounds. Michael Mageau had to be in the front seat during the initial part of the attack to produce the wounds of Darlene Ferrin noted at autopsy. Anybody telling you otherwise is just plain wrong. 

Above is page 20 from the Blue Rock Springs police report detailing the removal of two "slugs" from the inside of the vehicle, including the seat where Darlene Ferrin was positioned (driver side), and the left hand door. Two bullets remained in Darlene Ferrin's body. One bullet remained in Michael Mageau's left thigh. One was discovered by his person when lying outside the Corvair (that exited his body in the back seat and was trapped in his clothing until he vacated the vehicle, where it fell onto the parking lot). This means that a total of six bullets are accounted for. Where are the other three bullets? By knowing where these three bullets ended up, could shed light on whether Darlene Ferrin was shot first and whether her hands were on the steering wheel when the Zodiac Killer began firing that morning. There was an entry wound 3.5 inches above her right wrist and an entry wound 2 inches above her left wrist, strongly suggesting her wrists were in alignment with one another when the Zodiac Killer took his first shot (with Darlene possibly holding the steering wheel). As she turns away with her right arm coming across her body, the second shot is fired. The approximate images below brings to life this concept. If anybody can shed light on these three remaining bullets, feel free to post in comments.   ​

There were 9 entry wounds and 7 exit wounds to the body of Darlene Ferrin noted at autopsy. There were 2 bullets recovered from her torso at autopsy. The right arm has 2 entry wounds; one is 5 and 1/2 inches above elbow on right lateral side, fracturing the humerus shaft and exiting anteriorly and medially 1 and 1/4 inches distal to the elbow. The second entry wound to the right arm is behind the forearm, 3 and 1/2 inches above the wrist (exiting opposite side).

The left arm has two entry wounds; one is medially located in the upper arm, 3 and 1/4 inches above the elbow and exiting the opposite side. The second entry wound is located medially on the forearm, 2 inches above the wrist, fracturing the radial and ulnar bones, and exiting above and laterally at 3 inches above the wrist. ​

When the author of the July 19th 1978 letter typed their cryptic communication they used the word "tape" four times, including "I like friction tape", "I have my name on the bottom of the lid with the scotch tape", "My tape is waiting for me all over California" and "I have my real name on a small metallic tape". The fourth phrase is different from the rest because it singularises the object by using "a small metallic tape" rather than "I have my name on metallic tape". It also makes a point of distinction in this instance by describing the tape as small, which the author fails to do in the three other examples. The author continued by stating "I have my real name on a small metallic tape. You see, while you have it in your possession, I want you to know it belongs to me and you think I may have left it accidentally". This wording implies that law enforcement have in their possession "a small metallic tape" that was left deliberately by the author and was secured by investigators. 

Metallic mini-cassettes (Phillips) and micro-cassettes (Olympus) were introduced in 1967 and 1969 respectively, so the wording of somebody claiming to be Zodiac, who stated "I have my real name on a small metallic tape", could conceivably have left police a message on "a small metallic tape" with his name written on the casing. The author used the wording "a small metallic tape" instead of "a small tape", suggestive that the word "metallic" was to distinguish this tape from the others. The same reasoning can apply to the use of the word "small", which wasn't used in the three other phrases. This descriptor may have been important if the author of the letter had left a micro or mini-cassette at a crime scene with a message.

​On Sunday November 2nd 1975, a man walked up to a couple parked in a lovers' lane in Belmont, California (Monte Cresta Drive) and opened fire with a shotgun, killing  Anthony Vincent Bruno instantly.

Zodiac researcher, Mike Morford, highlighted a San Mateo newspaper article dated November 14th 1975 (shown below) and stated "The reporter, a man named Bob Foster, mentions that on the night of November 3, 1975, the 11 pm TV news on channel KGO ran a story about a Zodiac letter being found in a phone booth. This is pretty interesting to me for a couple reasons regarding the timing. First of all because, the night before, on 11/2/75, a young man and his girlfriend were attacked on a lovers' lane by a gun wielding man. The male victim, Vincent Bruno was killed, but his girlfriend survived. If I recall correctly, there may have been a letter & cassette tape found the same night in a phone booth not far from the attack site, from someone claiming to be Zodiac". 

​If Mike Morford's recollection is correct, then a potential message may have been left in Belmont by the Zodiac Killer in the form of a cassette tape, irrespective of whether he committed the crime or not. He may have heard the news of the murder and mischievously left a letter and cassette tape in a nearby phone booth, yet again claiming a murder he didn't commit. But, if this were true, why would the Zodiac Killer have revisited Belmont in his mind on July 19th 1978, nearly three years later? The act of leaving "a small metallic tape" in Belmont may have been triggered by recent activity. 

One month before the mailing of the typed July 19th 1978 letter, on June 11th 1978, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer telephoned the Redwood City and Belmont police announcing that "I'm still around". The newspaper article (June 12th 1978) stated "Copies of three tape-recorded calls, received one right after the other starting at about 3:20am, have been sent to San Francisco Police Department homicide investigator James Tedesco. He had not received the tapes yet but was told that the caller identified himself as the Zodiac Killer". Therefore, we have the possibility of the Zodiac Killer making several threats to Belmont police on June 11th 1978, which they recorded on tape, followed one month later by somebody mailing a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 19th 1978, stating  "I am the Zodiac" and using the word "tape" four times, including "I have my name on a small metallic tape" and "you have it in your possession". Did the Zodiac Killer suggest that he was "still around" in Belmont, having previously left a cassette tape there three years earlier, which was also forwarded to the San Francisco Police Department and remained in their possession?  

FURTHER READING: A PAWN IN A GAME OF DEATH 

It is far too simplistic to make the jump from the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" from the 408 cipher to "The Most Dangerous Game" short story by Richard Connell (1924) and/or the film version by RKO Radio Pictures (1932). The phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" stands alone in its own right as an utterance by Merian C. Cooper, a filmmaker, actor and producer, recognized as an authority on jungle life. The overwhelming majority of his films gracing our screens were produced in the first half of the 20th century, including King Kong (1933), in which he was both director and producer during its making throughout 1932. This project ran alongside the release of "The Most Dangerous Game" (1932), to which he was the associate producer.

Upon release of "The Most Dangerous Game" he declared that "man is the most dangerous animal of all", because the movie featured a madman who switched from hunting animals to hunting humans on a remote island. This was the origin phrase used by the Zodiac Killer when he mailed the first part of the 408 cryptogram to the Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. Therefore, the loose translation from "The Most Dangerous Game" to "The Most Dangerous Animal" was in fact correct, because of the below quotation by Merian C. Cooper about the movie in the newspapers. It stated "Merian C. Cooper, a recognized authority on jungle life declares man is the most dangerous animal of all".

A young Zodiac fascinated by movies would have had ample opportunities to watch adventure films such as Rango, The Most Dangerous Game and King Kong during his formative years. However, this word-for-word mimicking of "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his 408 cipher - one would have thought - likely came from something more contemporary which reminded him of its origins.

Recently it was shown that the 1963 movie "Rampage" had all those ingredients, including the phrases "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all" (man is the most dangerous animal of all), "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "a dozen men" (a dozen people) and the crosshairs over the movie title during the opening credits of the movie. The book "Rampage" by Alan Caillou, the movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover, along with the newspapers, contained numerous references to these phrases. It was also ironic that the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" would be placed by the Zodiac Killer within a code, when statewide, the "Rampage" movie would be advertised in the newspapers under the wording "They lived, loved and fought by the code of the jungle" [1] and "His code was to snare everything" [2].. The movie "Rampage" was broadcast on US television on July 20th 1969 (Channel 2), 11 days before the July 31st 1969 letters were mailed by the Zodiac Killer - with the movie advertised in the San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Berkeley Gazette and Santa Cruz Sentinel, to name just a few. To read the full story click here.

The original phraseology of "man is the most dangerous animal of all" was born from the movie "The Most Dangerous Game" through Merian C. Cooper in 1932, but the additional phrases mentioned above (including the crosshairs and code) used by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969, may have been inspired by the more contemporary movie "Rampage" (1963). It seems that both may have played a role in the theatrics of the Zodiac Killer.  

When you hear a "word salad" coming from a politician's mouth, you know that [A] the person doesn't know what they are talking about, or [B] they are trying to pull the wool over your eyes and dealing in obfuscation. This was the case when the Riverside Police Homicide Cold Case Unit issued an ambiguous statement a few years ago, that effectively amounted to nothing..We still don't know whether the individual mentioned in the statement below even exists.   

The person claimed to have been identified in 2020 has somehow been ruled out by Riverside police, who stated that "the person was not involved in the murder of Cheri Jo Bates". If this individual has been ruled out of murdering Cheri Jo Bates, then the only way they can achieve this is knowing exactly where this person was during the murder (which is extremely unlikely), he was physically handicapped in some way in 1966 to make the crime impossible (which would be evident by records), or they have ruled him out by mitochondrial DNA to four of the hairs recovered from the base of Cheri Jo Bates' right thumb, which have been unused and currently remain in evidence. It is reasonable to conclude that a DNA and/or color comparison to these remaining hairs is the only certain way to exclude him from the murder (which I doubt was done). However, if it was done, why would they accept these results, when they wouldn't accept the results of the DNA comparison to their prime suspect in 1999 (which seemingly ruled him out).. 

Because of the "statute of limitations" in the USA, any prosecution of this individual for interfering with an investigation in 1967 would fail. But that wouldn't apply in 2016 if it was found that he didn't author the three Bates letters. An open investigation of an unsolved murder being interfered with by somebody claiming to have authored three malicious communications, when they didn't author them, could be argued, is a criminal offence subject to prosecution. Any reasonable investigation into this individual that concluded he wasn't involved in the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, should have been achieved through proper evidence lines.

​From the "word salad" presented by the Riverside Police Homicide Cold Case Unit, without any meaningful explanation to their findings, one can only conclude that the above statement is not the truth. This individual identified claimed to have written the three Bates letters but failed to admit he typed the Confession letter and authored the Riverside Desktop Poem. And if he didn't claim all three, then he likely didn't author any. An individual claiming to be "remorseful for their actions" in 1967 by sending another anonymous letter in 2016 and further muddying the waters, should be viewed as less than honest.  

Many Zodiac researchers have contemplated which production of The Mikado inspired the Zodiac Killer to plagiarize two acts from the Gilbert & Sullivan opera, that included "A More Humane Mikado" and "As Some Day It May Happen" on July 26th 1970. Hopefully the following presentation may help answer that question.

​Although the Zodiac Killer heavily featured The Mikado in the July 26th 1970 letter, it wasn't his first reference to the satirical play, when he wrote about Kathleen Johns two days earlier (on July 24th 1970), stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am rather unhappy because you people will not wear some nice (Zodiac symbol inserted) buttons. So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". The Zodiac Killer was effectively pre-empting his "Little List" letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 26th 1970. The Bay Area murderer was often a reactive author, commenting on recent newspaper articles he had read, or something he had watched on television.

Throughout California (and other regions of America), the D'Oyly Carte 1939 production of The Mikado was featured on Channel 11 on the late night of Thursday, July 23rd 1970 and the early morning hours of Friday, July 24th 1970. That is the night before and the same day that the Zodiac Killer mailed his brief letter to the Chronicle, claiming the abduction of Kathleen Johns, and informing us that he had begun his "little list". Below are just a few examples from California.   

Curiously, but not by any means compelling, The Mikado (1939) starred Kathleen Naylor (the namesake of Johns), who joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1933 and also played key roles in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Princess Ida" and "Iolanthe". But that isn't the interesting part of the story. Widely considered the next confirmed communication of the Zodiac Killer, the Halloween card was mailed on October 27th 1970 with the added wording of "Peek-A-Boo" and "Boo". Bearing in mind that The Mikado was a British production, "Peek-A-Boo" is usually referred to as "Peep-Bo" in the English equivalent. Kathleen Naylor played the character "Peep-Bo" in the 1939 version of The Mikado.   

One of the long-standing questions in the Zodiac community is whether a solid link can be forged between the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates and/or the associated communications in 1966 and 1967, with the crimes or letters of the Zodiac Killer, beginning on December 20th 1968. On April 30th 1967, somebody mailed three letters to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Riverside Police Department and Joseph Bates stating "She had to die. There will be more" and "Bates had to die. There will be more".

​This approach would be somewhat mimicked by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969 (without the 1967 Bates letters currently published), who mailed three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald with his hidden cryptographic message of "the best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and all the I have killed will become my slaves". One individual had already used the phrase "to die" in the Riverside Desktop Poem, Confession letters and Bates letters (six times), so looking at the transition from "she had to die" to "when I die" from Riverside to the Bay Area, it is certainly worth looking into further. Especially when you consider the fact that the Zodiac Killer never used the word "die" in any of his subsequent communications.    

Also noteworthy, but not compelling, was the continuation in the religious overtones of "The Confession" letter and "She went to the slaughter like a lamb. She did not put up a struggle", to the message of the Zodiac Killer in the 408 cryptogram, in which he enciphered the wording "paradice", "reborn" and "afterlife" with respect to his death (when I die). The saying, "Like sheep to the slaughter", was used in respect to the notion of Jewish people being led passively to their deaths during the Holocaust. In other words, the suggestion that they offered no resistance or struggle - to be articulated by "The Confession" letter author when they typed "She (Bates) did not put up a struggle". and "She went very willingly". Cheri Jo Bates, it was claimed, was being marched passively to her death.       

Just a few months before the November 29th 1966 "Confession" letter, Jean-François Steiner released a highly controversial book entitled Treblinka: The Revolt of an Extermination Camp, claiming that the Jews were led "like sheep to the slaughter" - and in doing so - caused worldwide consternation in the newspapers. Although Steiner was not the originator of the phrase, it nevertheless was contemporary to 1966 to anybody who was well-versed in literature or recent newspaper coverage. If the author of the 1966 Riverside Desktop Poem can borrow headlines from The Press and Daily Enterprise on April 17th 1965 entitled "Clean-cut Youth Sought In Stabbing", then they can do the same in the case of the Jean Francois Steiner story. Changing "sheep to the slaughter" into "slaughter like a lamb".

In Isaiah 53, a chapter in the Hebrew Bible tells of a virtuous servant who is murdered but does not protest: "Like a sheep being led to the slaughter or a lamb that is silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth". The Confession letter author typed "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat. She went very willingly". There appears a mix of religiosity with contemporary news in the Confession letter, but it still isn't compelling. 

A link to Alfred Hitchcock and the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 has been suggested by Zodiac researchers, who highlighted the 1961 episode of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, entitled Museum Piece. Aired on April 4th 1961, it featured an individual who used a light attached to his .22 caliber rifle in the commission of a murder, just as the Zodiac Killer had claimed in his follow up to the July 31st 1969 letters. The father of the convicted killer appealed to the district attorney about his son's innocence, which was rejected. The district attorney is then murdered - to which the father latterly reminisced “I remember the excitement of the manhunt. The most dangerous game”. Three years earlier, on April 13th 1958, Alfred Hitchcock Presents released an episode entitled "Lamb to the Slaughter", which was not that dissimilar to the phrase "to the slaughter like a lamb" used in the Confession letter. These observations ultimately fail to cement a link between Riverside and the Zodiac Killer, but the definitive answers we seek may still be found one day. 

Here is a handy little chart showing how one person was responsible for the three Riverside "communications" in 1966 and 1967. It is currently unknown whether the Confession letters or the Riverside Desktop Poem came first.