Mike Mageau Changes His Story

In August 1969, just before he was released from the hospital and went into hiding, Mike Mageau granted Dave Peterson an interview published in the Vallejo Times Herald. In that interview, Mike changed a few elements of his story in an apparent "corroboration" of the first two Zodiac letters. Why?

August 19, 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald Dave Peterson
KILLER'S SOLE SURVIVOR TALKS
"The "code killer" who has struck twice at holiday time is a San Franciscan who uses the Vallejo area as his hunting grounds. This is the belief of the only one of four victims who has amazingly survived although his body was shattered on the Fourth of July by devastating 9 mm. slugs. Michael Renault Mageau, tall, slender, 19-year-old, spoke from his wheelchair Monday for publication for the first time . . . The slayer is a 'mad-dog' type who murders indiscriminately, Mageau indicated as he flexed his crippled right arm . . . His left leg was encased from toes almost to hip in a cast . . . Mageau . . . explained hesitatingly that the professed murderer's anonymous letters convinced him they came from the real killer. They 'gave so many details,' he said. He himself told additional details about the slayer and the shootings which had not been previously revealed. He elaborated on the description of the murderer's car. 'It could have been a 1958 or 1959 Falcon.' The body type was similar to that of the 1963 Corvair driven by Mrs. Ferrin, Mageau said. The color was bronze or brown. When the other car first arrived in the parking lot at the park at about midnight it pulled up on the driver's side of the couple's car, opposite Mrs. Ferrin, but with the front of the other car about even with the back of the Ferrin car. Mageau asked her if she knew who it was. She replied only, 'don't worry about it,' not indicating if she recognized the driver. When the other car left and returned in about 10 minutes it pulled up opposite Mageau's passenger side—and about 10 feet away and to the rear. A powerful beam of light was then shone on the couple from within the other car. They thought it was a policeman's spotlight—and they 'started digging for identification,' Mageau said. Then the light went out. In a moment, the blinding light flashed on them from just opposite Mageau. Then the smashing 9 mm. bullets were fired. Mageau described how he half-leaped, was half-knocked onto the back floor of the car. His legs thrashed out, partly from the shock of the wounds and partly from his efforts to evade or to ward off the slugs with his own limbs. When the killer stopped firing after the first fusillade Mageau partly boosted himself up on the rear seat. 'He started firing again,' Mageau said, and he lashed out with his legs again. He got his first look at the slayer when he was walking away and was partly illuminated by his own headlights. Surprisingly, 'he walked slowly and with his head down,' Mageau said. He was of stocky build and short, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches, weighing about 160 pounds, Mageau said. His face was full, he was bareheaded and had 'wavy or curly light brown hair' and looks about 25 to 30 years old. He wore a blue shirt or sweater. The gunman uttered not a single word at any time, Mageau said. And Mrs. Ferrin gave no indication she knew him, he added. She could voice only a 'moan' after the withering attack. The slayer drove away rapidly, making some gravel fly, Mageau said, but 'he didn't really gun it or burn rubber.' Mageau stressed that his description of the onslaught was not positive in his mind but was more impersonal than exact. He pointed out he was suffering from the critical wounds most of the time."