Email Interview: 07/15/19 & 07/19/19
Destry: What do you think about Michael Mageau’s accounts of that night over the years. Do you think his earliest accounts are the most accurate?
Ed: I interviewed Mageau the next day at Kaiser hospital. He was under pain meds, but was lucid. I spent almost 2 hrs with him and do not believe he had the mental capacity to lie about anything. He got involved in drugs later on and not much he talked about after that is reliable, so yes, I think his accounting to me of the nite of the killing is most accurate.
Destry: Why do you think it took the killer 40 minutes to make a phone call after BRS?
Ed: I checked my original police report. The call of shooting came in at 12;10am July 5. I was in [an] unmarked car downtown Vallejo and noted I arrived at [the] scene at 1235am. It was noted the suspect call came to VPD dispatch at 1240am. The scene of the shooting is 3-5 miles from the phone booth where the call was made. It took me 25 min. to get to the scene driving fairly fast.. So, the killer, after he left the scene it is unknown what direction he went, etc. and could have driven directly back to the city area in likely 15-20 min. He could have stopped along the [way] to watch police car activity or??? So, from the time the shooting was reported to the time the killer made the call was 30 min. You would think the killer would be driving at a speed not to attract attention, so it would have taken at least 15-20 minutes if he drove directly from the murder scene to the phone booth. Doesn’t leave much time for anything else!
Dylan Cannon: Does he believe the killer knew Darlene? What are his thoughts on Allen today?
Ed: I do believe the killer, Kane, knew Darlene. Harvey Hines documented that Larry Kane lived in an apt. in SF that was two blocks from a café where Darlene worked for a period of time and likely was a patron there. Darlene’s aunt owned the café. Later a man fitting Kanes descr visited her at Terry’s Waffle Shop in Vallejo and she, at some point, became frightened of this man and would hide in the kitchen when he came to the restaurant.
As to Allen, I never believed he was a viable suspect and I believe that Mageau’s description of the killer who came up beside the low profile Corvair they were in, as being ‘5-8 to 5-9 tall, would have been vastly different if it had been the 6-5, 250+ lb Allen. I went over and over Mageau’s descr of the killer in the hospital the day after the shooting and believe it is accurate as could be.
Kyle Jacobson: Given the circumstances of the attack & Zodiac’s subsequent call to police, what is Rust’s gut sense of how well Zodiac knew the area? Did he have the feeling Zodiac lived in the immediate area?
Ed: I do not believe the killer ‘lived in the immediate area’ of Vallejo. I do believe he, Larry Kane, who lived in SF, was a frequent visitor to Vallejo to see Darlene Ferrin and had a basic knowledge of the area.
Floyd Black: Didn’t Detective Rust say his fave suspect is Lawrence Kane? I’m very curious as to why he feels this.
Ed: My relationship with Harvey Hines and his lengthy and well documented report on the Zodiac case wherein he ID’d Larry Kane as the killer, is the reason I firmly believe Kane was the Zodiac.
Nathan Johnson: Ask him if he thinks zodiac was in Vietnam or knew he was going to Vietnam? And if he did go after killings did he die over there ?
Ed: I have no information on this or any reason to believe such.
Jack Myers: Does Ed believe the Zodiac was a Vallejo resident?
Ed: No, I do not believe the Zodiac killer lived in Vallejo. See above.
Jack Rippervenge: Does he know where Hoffman retrieved Mageaus wallet from before placing it on the rear right fender of the car?
Ed: Mageau told me in his interview at Kaiser Hospital, that he believed it was a police officer approaching their car and he got his wallet out to show his ID. Hoffman found the wallet lying on the passenger front seat and placed it on the fender of the Corvair and it was later placed in evidence with all this documented in the report.
Nick Dotterbart: Destry, aside from Rust believing Kane is the best suspect (“If he wasn’t Zodiac, he should have been” lol), can you try to get more information about Cunningham’s suspect for LHR? Rust also believes in that theory, and although a name for that suspect is floating around, I could never verify if it’s the right guy. The information out there about that suspect is thin and conflicting.
Ed: My recollection of the LHR killing is that Cunningham and other SO detectives ‘firmly believed’ that the killer was a local thug named ‘_____ _______’. Not sure now of the actual spelling, but they told me the this guy had used a .22 rifle in a local robbery and they believed this was the murder gun, but they never could find it. They said it involved drugs and maybe a ‘love’ triangle. He was convicted of the robbery and went to prison, but without the murder weapon, they could not charge him with the LHR murder.
Editor’s note: The LHR suspects name was removed to protect the identity of a potentially living person. Will update when able.