On Thursday, May 23, 1946, a 21-year-old ex-Army Air Force B-24 machine-gunner by the name of Ralph B. Baumann told Los Angeles police that he thought he might have been the Phantom. "I've been in a coma, running from something. Maybe murder. I want to clear it up. If I didn't kill five people in Texarkana, I want to settle down and be a stunt man in Hollywood. I'm happiest when I'm living in danger." Previously, he had gone to the "Los Angeles Examiner" and told a reporter, "I want to sell you some murder information. I know who and where the Texarkana Killer is. Give me $5 and let me have an hour's start and I'll put the information in a sealed envelope." The reporter called the police after reading the following: "On a certain day in March, I was in a Texarkana theater watching a Pathé news picture of war. When a party of persons acted wise and said they were 'overacting', it kind of got me. I followed them home. I killed them within a period of three days."