Mahaffey also stated that after the murder of Virgil Starks, the police declared the farmhouse off-limits to everybody. "Several nights later, I was holding forth in the Arkansas police station, when a call came through that a neighbor had seen strange lights in the farmhouse. We sped to the scene and I hid behind a car while Police Chief Max Tackett and three other patrolmen approached the house. Chief Tackett yelled into the house that the place was surrounded and the Phantom might as well give up. Who do you suppose walked out? None other than Lone Wolf Gonzaullas of the Texas Rangers and a woman photographer from "Life" and "Time" magazines. Lone Wolf explained rather sheepishly that he had been re-enacting the crime and the young lady was taking pictures of him. Police Chief Tackett turned to me and shouted at the top of his voice, 'Mahaffey, you can quote me as saying that the Phantom Murders will never be solved until Texarkana gets rid of the big city press and the Texas Rangers.'"