0:00

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast

0:02

are solely those of the podcast author

0:05

or individuals participating in the podcast,

0:07

and do not necessarily represent those of

0:09

I Heart Media, How Stuff Works, or

0:11

its employees. Lover's

0:16

Lane a secretive destination

0:19

for hopefully young people, a lookout

0:21

or secluded area where couples

0:23

anticipate privacy. Betty

0:26

lu Jensen and David Faraday were

0:28

just kids, ages sixteen and seventeen.

0:31

Privacy and intimacy was probably

0:33

what they expected from their night. What

0:36

they got instead, they never could have

0:38

predicted. Their

0:40

murder at Lake Kerman Road was horrifying,

0:43

in brutal. Why would someone

0:45

do that to two kids? There

0:48

couldn't be anything more terrible. It couldn't

0:50

get any worse, but it

0:52

did. The killer struck again

0:55

at yet another Lover's Lane,

1:01

A man in a mask, robbed, tied,

1:04

and stabbed them, leaving them for dad. Subjects

1:07

stated, I want to report a murder,

1:10

no a double murder. I

1:12

did it. A man who wore

1:14

an evil style executioner's hood,

1:17

carried a knife and gun and

1:19

intended to use them.

1:21

They you have an arrestipe because they can't

1:23

cove that. I'm not damn

1:26

Zodiac. Who is the Zodiac

1:28

and where is he? From my heart,

1:30

radio, how staff works and

1:32

Tenderfoot TV. This is

1:35

Monster, the Zodiac Killer. It's

1:45

been six and a half months since the murders

1:47

at La Kerman Roade. Like before, it's

1:49

another couple in a car and another attack.

1:53

My name is Clarence Edward rust

1:56

r Ust. I'm a retired

1:59

Bleo Place to par A lieutenant. On

2:01

the night of July four, nineteen sixty

2:04

nine, I was working at a late shift with white

2:06

partner John Lynch when

2:08

the Zodiac killing occurred. We

2:12

were in a unmarked police

2:15

unit and we're in the downtown

2:17

area of Leo when the radio call

2:19

came over about firecrackers at Blue

2:21

Ox Springs Park

2:27

and they got a call that this was gun

2:29

shocks. We

2:32

pulled into the parking area and observed a

2:34

vehicle in the parking lot and police

2:37

car right next to it. We

2:39

get out of the car, observed the right

2:41

passenger side door was open

2:44

and a body was laid

2:46

in the ground with the legs still parsonally

2:49

in the car. The male

2:51

victim had obviously had injuries

2:54

appeared to be bullet wounds, and

2:56

I walked around to the driver's

2:59

zorb and I saw a

3:01

young white female behind the string

3:03

wheel, which was later identified

3:05

as Darlene Farren. I

3:12

talked to her, ask her, can you tell me what

3:14

happened? Her eyes were closed.

3:16

My position was still breathing, and

3:19

she murmured a couple of times

3:21

but never opened her eyes, didn't

3:23

say anything to me. I knew an ambulance

3:26

was on the way, so I walked around the side

3:28

where John Lynch was trying to talk

3:30

to the young male. He

3:34

was laying on the ground and had an injury

3:37

to his head or neck and

3:39

he had difficulty talking. The

3:42

ambulance away. Shortly after

3:44

that, loaded both the victims into

3:47

the ambulance. I told Dick Houfman

3:49

to go in the ambulance with him in case either

3:51

want um we're able to say anything. Darlene

3:55

Farren was dead on right or

3:57

at the hospital, but

4:00

the male victim was alive

4:02

and put in emergency care. Zodiac

4:09

left a witness behind the male victim

4:12

in the emergency room. Michael Magea survived.

4:15

We went back to Michael Butterfield, the Zodiac

4:18

expert you heard in the first episode. He

4:21

was just very fortunate in the sense that none

4:23

of those bullets hit him in a vital area,

4:26

and that's just pure luck. That

4:28

bullet might have gone right through his head. So

4:30

he's very lucky to be alive. And

4:33

like most people who survived those kinds of

4:35

traumatic events, there's probably

4:37

a certain amount of guilt attached to that, wondering

4:39

why did I survive? Why did she die?

4:42

And then also there's the horrifying realization

4:44

of how close you came to dying. There's

4:47

no way that you can forget about that. Every

4:49

day you're if you feel the pain of

4:51

that bullet, you see the scars,

4:54

you know how close you came to dyeing, and

4:57

especially watching someone die right next

4:59

to you, that's got to be chilling. Michael

5:03

Mitchell has struggled a great deal with this over

5:05

the years. Not everyone

5:08

walks away from a tragedy intact

5:12

ed rust. The copy you heard earlier not

5:14

only arrived on the zodiacs, second

5:16

grew some scene. He also interviewed

5:19

Michael Maja in the hospital the morning

5:21

after the attack. He

5:24

was really injured and it was under station,

5:27

but I was able to speak with me

5:29

and I interviewed him at length.

5:33

He was able to tell me that Darlene

5:36

had picked him up at his house. They

5:38

had some kind of association, I'm

5:40

not sure just what. She

5:42

drove them out to Blue Ox Springs

5:44

Park and they pulled into the

5:47

parking lot and it was empty

5:49

at the time. This was pretty late at night.

5:52

He said. They were sitting in the car talking

5:54

about things, and a car load of young

5:57

people pulled up next to them, and the eld

5:59

and holler it and drove off. And

6:02

shortly after that a car

6:04

pulled up behind him. The

6:07

driver got out, walked up to his side

6:09

of the car, carrying a handheld

6:11

flash. Like Michael Lagel.

6:13

He assumed it was a police officer, and

6:16

was trying to get his wallet out. This

6:19

person walked up and was standing right next

6:21

to his open window. Didn't

6:24

say anything at all Tom, and

6:27

suddenly he pulled a gun up and started

6:30

shooting. Michael

6:34

Vagel. He was hit struck several

6:36

times, and he literally

6:39

climbed over the seat into

6:41

the back seat of the little corvet. The

6:45

shots just kept going, and he

6:47

said this person actually reached in and shot

6:50

him at least once or twice more while

6:52

he was in the back seat. After

6:56

several shots and nothing said whatsoever,

7:00

he heard the car door slam

7:03

the lights disappeared and

7:06

the vehicle drove off, he believed

7:08

towards Palleo. He

7:12

then was able to reach and open the

7:14

passenger side door that he had been sitting

7:17

in it and was able to climb out,

7:19

and he fell down on the ground, and

7:22

that's where he was when the first

7:24

police officer did Kaufman ride. He

7:26

said he tried to talk to Darlene, but

7:29

she never did answer. Michael

7:32

mot Joe lived the life of

7:34

terror after this, heavily

7:37

involved in drugs and he

7:40

just got completely out of it. I'd

7:45

like to see this case solved, and I think I can

7:47

be solved, but it

7:50

just hasn't. I don't I'm

7:52

just kind of burned out, bummed out by the

7:54

whole the whole situation

7:56

or everything. I was there that night, and obviously

7:58

I saw what the guy I did to those two young

8:01

kids, and I

8:03

want to see the person that did it how

8:05

responsible. Witnessing

8:20

and surviving and attempted murder is

8:22

obviously traumatizing. It can

8:24

linger with someone for the rest of their life.

8:27

Not only did this impact Michael Maja,

8:30

it also left its mark on Darlene's

8:32

parents, her daughter, and

8:34

her husband, Dean Farren that

8:38

fourth of July did well. I was working

8:40

and we she came by the restaurant and said, okay,

8:42

let's go out and get some fireworks and

8:45

we'll meet at the house and have beer

8:47

and wine. And at that time you could buy safe

8:49

insane fireworks and had a concrete

8:52

pad in the backyard. That was the plan. Close

8:54

the restaurant up and went by the house

8:56

and we're kind of surprised that the babysitter was

8:58

still there. She

9:01

hadn't come back yet. There's

9:04

no cell phones and anything that was a long

9:06

time ago, had no way of getting contact,

9:08

just sat around waiting. The

9:11

police showed up to the door. I wanted

9:14

me and to come down the police station

9:16

and didn't really say why. They said, oh, there's

9:18

been an accident and I need you to come

9:20

down the police station. And

9:23

they took us into one little room kind

9:25

of like this little small interview

9:27

room and said, well, you know, it's

9:30

just wondering where you've been tonight. And I told

9:32

him, well, I've been working up till forty

9:34

five minutes ago or so. And checked

9:37

with the boss and he's yeah, he's been

9:39

there all night. And said, well,

9:41

wait, just we don't tell you it's it's the worst.

9:43

She's deceased. They

9:47

asked where her parents lived, and I

9:49

said, well, you know, I think I should probably

9:51

be the one to tell him.

9:53

So I rode then

9:55

out to their house with the police officers

9:58

and told her parents that don't really

10:00

know what happened, but you know your daughter has been killed.

10:02

And

10:05

then you know, I went back home, and I

10:08

don't remember if my brother took

10:10

a daughter to my parents house

10:12

or if we did that in the next morning. I don't

10:14

remember exactly what went on after that.

10:16

I was kinda so I

10:19

didn't know where I was really had kind

10:21

of end of days. That

10:24

sense of shock Dean felt persisted.

10:26

The trauma of dealing with Darlene's murder

10:29

left him struggling to raise their daughter.

10:32

He said, my daughter stayed

10:34

with my parents for a

10:37

little bit of a while, and but we had had

10:39

a close friend that well

10:42

they volunteered to babysit. Basically,

10:45

she was raised for about five years

10:47

by this other couple that was more of a

10:50

foster sort of a situation,

10:52

which not

10:54

to this day, she still goes down. Mother and dad.

10:57

That was a miracle

11:00

for us or me or her. Both

11:03

gave her some kind of a structure

11:05

and a family

11:07

situation, which at that time I

11:11

I didn't know where I was gone. At

11:15

this point, it's so long ago, and

11:18

my life is really been pretty

11:20

good. I'm happy and got a

11:22

nice family. And some

11:25

people say, oh, it'll bring closure. Well

11:27

I don't. I talked

11:29

to the TV news thing after the guy

11:32

up in Sacramento they found

11:34

him, California rapist or killer

11:36

or whatever, and they called me and they

11:39

came by the house, stood

11:41

out in the front of the yard for ten or fifteen

11:43

minutes. Well let's bring closure, And I said,

11:45

I don't know what the hell closure is. And that was the end of it.

11:50

I don't know what closure is. How

11:52

does the only thing it will end is maybe

11:54

I won't. Yeah, people

11:56

won't talk about it as much, but I don't even

11:58

see that happening anymore. It's

12:02

less painful every time. It's gonna like

12:05

picking a scab off of a little cut. Okay,

12:07

the first time it leads like hell, and next

12:09

time, man, not so much. This is gonna

12:11

lead somewhere. Well, nothing's happened.

12:14

So the

12:22

police investigated the idea that

12:25

Darlene Farren had been killed by someone

12:27

she knew that's a traditional

12:29

standard investigative

12:31

avenue. Darlene Farren

12:34

was a very popular person as

12:37

a waitress in a local diner. There, she had

12:39

many fans and of course many male admirers.

12:42

And I think that, like

12:44

many people her age, she liked having

12:46

fun. I don't know if that meant drinking

12:48

or doing other things, but she definitely liked

12:50

having a good time, and that included having

12:53

fun with her friends. Michael Mago

12:55

was one of the people she counted among her

12:57

friends. Michael and his twin

12:59

brother there had met Darlene at

13:01

the diner where she worked, and like

13:04

many other male customers there, they developed

13:06

a friendship with her that sometimes

13:08

extended beyond her work hours.

13:11

There are a lot of stories about Darlene

13:13

dating other men and doing other things like that,

13:15

and so it's easy to believe that she

13:18

was dating a lot of different men, and one of them could

13:20

have been the Zodiac. The police

13:22

investigated multiple leads, and

13:24

early on there were two men who stood out

13:26

as possible suspects, George

13:29

and Gordon. According

13:31

to the Vallejo Police Department's reports,

13:34

Darlene had some problems with a guy named

13:36

George. The report details

13:38

how George met Darlene at the restaurant

13:40

where she worked and would sometimes give her

13:42

rides home. But friends of Darlene

13:44

said she was quote deathly afraid

13:47

of him, but was friendly towards him in an

13:49

effort to keep him at a distance. On

13:51

one occasion, he walked into her apartment

13:53

and told her that he was either going to rape her

13:56

or get into bed with her in one way or another

13:58

unquote. Officers spoke

14:01

with George and he denies ever threatening

14:03

Darlene, but does state that many

14:05

times he did tease her and make her angry.

14:08

George was quickly ruled out as a suspect.

14:11

Gordon Arthur was another suspect

14:14

police spoke with. Gordon met Darlene

14:16

while he was waiting for the Navy to transfer

14:18

him. He told officers he and Darlene

14:20

went on a few dates. According to the police

14:23

files, Gordon said a day or two

14:25

before he moved, Darlene told him that she

14:27

wanted to leave her husband and move with him,

14:30

but Gordon said no because Darlene

14:32

had a baby he couldn't provide for. After

14:35

he moved, Gordon said, Darlene wrote to

14:37

him telling him she might be pregnant, but

14:39

then he didn't hear from her for a while. In

14:42

the case report, it reads he received

14:44

one more letter from her and it said she

14:46

had been in the hospital for a short time, but

14:49

did not state the reason. Gordon

14:51

thought that possibly she had been pregnant and went

14:54

and got an abortion somewhere. Gordon

14:56

stated at this time that he decided

14:58

not to have anything to do with Arlene

15:00

and not to see her again. Gordon

15:03

was also ruled out after

15:12

reading the police reports. In firsthand accounts

15:14

of people close to Darlene, it seemed

15:17

as if she had been living a secret life went

15:19

away from her family. I wanted

15:21

to know if Dean knew how Darlene

15:23

spent her time when she wasn't at home or

15:25

at work. Ah,

15:30

she was a waitress at pancake

15:32

house. I was a cook there and we got

15:35

to be friends, and then it escalated

15:37

from there. I guess at the time she

15:39

was married to somebody else and he

15:42

was being rather abusive, and I helped

15:44

her find a place to live with a

15:47

friend of mine. From there we got

15:49

to be better friends. Ended up getting

15:51

married a little bit sooner than we may have thought. But

15:53

back in those days I was a

15:55

little bit different. Now good girls

15:57

don't get pregnant when they're single,

16:00

and we had planned on getting married anyway.

16:02

It was kind of pushed up a little bit.

16:05

She had just turned twenty one, so I

16:08

like to go out and dance. She

16:10

and some of the other waitresses would go out.

16:12

She would go out occasionally with them.

16:15

She still had friends from when she was had

16:17

lived in San Francisco. She'd

16:19

go down and see and exactly what they did.

16:21

I know, there's all kinds of rumors down

16:23

there that was her drug connection, and that was

16:26

her boyfriends or whatever. You know.

16:29

Some of the place I talked to, they

16:31

were asking me, okay, rumors are

16:33

that she was having a lot of affairs. Well, I

16:36

would like to believe she wasn't. But I know that

16:38

she liked to go out. But where

16:40

did Migeau stand with Darlene? As

16:43

far as Michael Joe

16:46

or I know how to pronounce his name,

16:48

It's one of those things I'm trying to put out on my head.

16:51

I would like to believe that's not true, but I

16:53

don't have anything way to confirm

16:57

her to not. Michael

17:00

Magou today talks

17:02

about their relationship in terms

17:04

of that he wanted to marry her,

17:07

in all kinds of things, but at

17:09

the time it appears that they were just friends.

17:11

Maybe he had a very strong crush on her.

17:14

There's no evidence that she ever responded

17:16

or reciprocated in that way. And

17:19

although there are a lot of stories about Darlene

17:22

dating other men and doing other things like that,

17:24

there's no solid evidence behind any

17:26

of that. I think a lot of that is a

17:29

lot of that comes up years later. Darlene

17:33

Farren is like the Laura Palmer

17:36

of the Zodiac case. Laura Palmer was

17:38

the victim in the famous TV

17:40

series Twin Peaks, and of

17:42

course in that series it was a very complicated

17:45

murder story, and her background had a

17:47

lot to do with what was going on. But

17:50

I think that's what people wanted to believe

17:52

with Darlene Farren. So they wanted

17:54

to believe that she had this rich,

17:56

mysterious private life where

17:58

there's all these in your secrets and shadows

18:01

and things like that, and so it's

18:03

easy to believe that she was dating

18:05

a lot of different men and one of them could have been the Zodiac

18:08

or all these things, but there's no evidence to support

18:11

that. For

18:16

a moment, investigators even looked into

18:18

Michael Maso. Many people

18:20

today still theorized that he knew

18:23

the Zodiac was going to attack that night. Michael

18:26

Majou at the time of the shooting was apparently

18:28

wearing several layers of clothing. The

18:31

layers of clothing have been troubling for some

18:33

people because Michael Maso did have some

18:36

minor criminal entries

18:38

on his record, and some people have

18:40

read a lot into that. They think it's

18:42

evidence that there was something sinister

18:44

going on, or that he knew something,

18:47

that he was a criminal,

18:49

like a burglar, that he, you know, was

18:51

wearing one set of clothes so that if he escaped,

18:54

he could take those off and not be identified. There's

18:56

other people who have actually come up with

18:58

the theory that he knew you were going to

19:00

be shot that night and he was wearing

19:02

extra layers of clothing in case he

19:05

had to take it off and if there was blood

19:07

on him or something like that. I think

19:09

it makes a lot more sense to believe that Michael

19:11

Bojo was a young kid, rather skinny

19:14

and he was out at night. UM,

19:17

A lot of kids wear extra layers of clothing.

19:19

I never did that myself. I

19:21

wore a lot of jackets when I was in high school,

19:24

but I didn't know people who did

19:26

that, and sometimes it was because they weren't comfortable

19:28

with the way they looked in their clothes. They would try

19:30

to pad their bodies and that may have played

19:33

a part in it. I don't see

19:35

any reason to believe that he knew about

19:37

the shooting that night. Most

19:40

people would not volunteer to be sitting

19:42

next to someone who's going to be shot to death in

19:44

a car, and I think in reality,

19:47

it's just a kid in his insecurities.

19:52

The following is a re enactment of a portion

19:54

of Michael Majo's statement to the police after

19:57

the incident at Blue Rock Springs. The

19:59

record comprises reading by an actor

20:01

of Mr Miho's statement in first person

20:04

voice. This

20:10

vehicle pulled up approximately ten

20:12

ft behind us, to the right of Darlene's

20:14

car. He had a high powered

20:16

flashlight, the kind you carry

20:18

with a handle. He

20:24

walked up to the car, and both of us believed

20:26

it was a policeman. He stepped

20:29

up to my side of the car, shining a flashlight

20:31

on us. He didn't say anything to

20:33

us, and we didn't say anything to him.

20:36

I started to reach for my wallet as I felt

20:38

it was a policeman who wanted to see my I

20:40

d as I did. I

20:43

heard a muffled sound and felt

20:45

a pain in my back and my neck. I

20:47

heard some more muffled sounds. It

20:49

sounded like a gun with a silencer

20:51

on it. I tried to climb

20:54

over the backseat to get away from the shooting,

20:56

and he kept shooting again and

20:59

again. Finally,

21:02

he quit shooting and turned the gun on Darlene

21:05

and started shooting her again

21:07

and again. He then turned

21:09

around and started to walk back to his vehicle,

21:12

which still had the headlights on. I

21:14

couldn't tell if I meant to yell at him or

21:16

if I just yelled from the pain, but

21:19

I let out some type of yell. He

21:22

apparently heard me and came back to

21:24

the car and shot me two more times,

21:27

once in the back and once

21:29

in the leg. He turned the gun on

21:31

Darlin and shot hurt twice more.

21:34

All the shots I heard were muffled, like

21:36

there was a silencer on it. It wasn't

21:39

loud. He then turned around

21:41

and casually walked back to his vehicle

21:43

and got in. I

21:46

reached outside the car door to open it

21:48

because the handle inside was broken.

21:51

I reached outside and opened the car door

21:53

and fell on the ground. As

21:56

I fell on the ground, the vehicle he was in backed

21:58

up in a turning movement and then

22:00

took off towards Springs Road and Vallejo

22:03

at a very high rate of speed. As

22:07

the vehicle drove off, I only saw the rear

22:10

portion of it. This rear

22:12

part appeared to be a vehicle similar

22:14

to or the same type as Darlene's

22:16

car, a Corvett, also

22:19

a very similar color, possibly

22:21

a little bit lighter brown. It

22:23

had a California license plate, but I couldn't

22:25

tell what the numbers were. As

22:31

best as I can recall, the

22:33

man appeared to be short, possibly

22:36

five eight. He was real heavy

22:38

set, beefy build, possibly

22:42

maybe even larger. He

22:45

had short, curly hair, light brown,

22:47

almost blonde. He was wearing

22:49

a short sleeve shirt blue in color.

22:52

I saw his face from the profile a side

22:55

view. I don't remember seeing

22:57

the front. There was nothing unusual

23:00

about his faith, other than it appeared

23:02

to be large. He

23:04

had a large faith. It

23:07

was dark, It was just too hard

23:09

to see him.

23:14

As strange as many of the circumstances

23:16

were. Michael Magou has been cleared

23:18

of any and all suspicion. The

23:21

unanswered questions surrounding the murder

23:23

of Darlene Farrin and attempted murder

23:25

of Michael Mageau have left many people

23:28

guessing and theorizing. It's

23:30

made for an odd and complicated case.

23:33

But it's not the questions or the attack

23:35

itself that cast this case in the limelight.

23:38

It's what happened minutes after that

23:41

marked the beginning of the Zodiacs

23:43

notoriety. While Michael

23:45

and Darlene were struggling to survive in

23:47

Blue Rock Springs Park, the killer

23:50

apparently was driving around Valleo until

23:52

he found a pay phone and he

23:54

called the Valleo Police Department and

24:01

the call was answered by the dispatcher Nancy

24:04

slogan. I

24:08

want to report a murder. If

24:13

you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway,

24:15

you will find kids in a brown car. They

24:19

were shot with a nine millimeter Look here, I

24:24

also killed those kids last year. Goodbye,

24:55

next time on Monster the Zodiac

24:58

Killer. A strange letter arrives

25:00

at the offices of three northern California

25:02

newspapers. So the first letter came,

25:05

I was among the copyboys sorting mail.

25:08

There was a box where letters the editor want

25:10

we just throw the stuff in there. It's

25:12

chilling just to look at it. Each part

25:15

consisted of a block of symbols

25:17

from astrology, half filled circles

25:20

backwards letters. They found

25:22

symbols that were repeating next to each other.

25:25

Well, the most common double letter in

25:27

English is L L, and

25:29

you know LLL appears in a lot of words, all

25:32

will and kill. What

25:35

I needed was not a new weapon,

25:38

not a new animal. Year

25:41

on my island. I hadn't

25:43

the most dangerous game.

25:47

When they searched his car, they found a

25:49

couple of books. When the books was my book

25:52

on ser murder. He

25:54

decided It's not enough for me to just shoot these

25:56

people. I need to look in their eyes and see

25:58

them going, oh everything so came now, and

26:01

then look in their eyes when I flip on them

26:03

and they find out that this is not what

26:05

they thought and that their lives are at stake.

26:13

Monster the Zodiac Killer is a

26:15

fifteen episode podcast produced

26:17

by I Heart Radio How Stuff Works

26:20

in Tenderfoot TV. Donald

26:22

Albright and I are executive producers

26:24

on behalf of Tenderfoot TV, alongside

26:26

producers Meredith Stepman, Mason Lindsay,

26:29

and Christina Dana Jason Hope

26:31

is executive producer on behalf of How Stuff

26:33

Works, along with producers Trevor Young,

26:35

Miranda Hawkins, ben Kybrick, and

26:37

josh Than Scott. Benjamin

26:40

provides additional voice talent. Matt

26:42

Frederick is our host. Original

26:45

music is by Makeup and Vanity Set. If

26:48

you haven't already, make sure to check out the first

26:50

season of Monster called Atlanta Monster, about

26:52

the Atlanta child murders from the late seventies

26:55

to the early eighties. Download the ten episode

26:57

season right now. Have questions

26:59

are common us email us at Monster

27:02

at how stuff works dot com,

27:04

or you can call us at one eight

27:06

three three to eight five six

27:08

six six seven. Thanks for listening.