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Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 9:51 am
by morf13
One of the witnesses in the BRS reports, was a guy named DONALD BERONIO. His story is a very interesting one as seen below;
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 10:06 am
by morf13
7/9/69, Police check out a report of a woman, who's neighbor relayed an interesting story.
Basically, the woman claims that her son in law was approached by a young man, described a stocky, individual with a brown car, that desperately needed a ride back to teh Santa maria area, where Beronio himself,along with his Wife lived. Supposedly, this stocky man had told Donald, that he was involved in some shootings over July 4th, and needed to get out of the area. Beronio supposedly rejected him, and did not give him a ride.
7/13/69 Police contact Beronio, and he claims he knows nothing of this story which he supposedly told his Mother in Law.
Something's fishy here, but more interesting, BEFORE we have a description of zodiac, this guy is claiming a stocky guy,with a BROWN CAR, wants a ride back down to Santa maria,CA (close to the Domingos/Edwards crime).
I previously mentioned this incident before, but was hoping to dig into this a bit deeper, and get some ideas, theories, or opinions.
Either the Mother in law is lying, or the son in law, Beronio, is lying. Why would either lie? What are the odds that Beronio would describe a stocky guy with a brown car, BEFORE a description of zodiac was ever out there in the public? And, what are the chances this guy would be trying to get down to Santa Maria, near the D&E crime scene?
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 2:59 pm
by Bayarea60s
Mike....
I think the MIL already read the info in the paper, cause she cites the exact order that MM gave to RO of the description of Z, and yet she couldn't remember the name given to her. It could be Beronio was told that by a buddy, and the buddy was a BSer, wanted to make himself involved in the big case in Vallejo (there was a lot of that going on in Vallejo then). It could be Beronio was BSing his MIL to somehow impress her, that he knew the bad guy.
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 3:04 pm
by morf13
Surprised that nobody is more interested in this.
Beronio, upon being questioned, stated that he had talked to nobody that weekend outside of his Family, with the exception of JAY R. KEITH. It's hard to see from the report being faded. Keith was a 1968 Graduate of Vallejo HS, but I cant find a pic of him. Odd that Beronio denies that he and his Wife ever ran into a person claiming to have shot people on 7/4, yet his own Wife's Mother stated that he DID say such a thing happened, and that both her Daughter and son in law witnessed it, and she even mentioned another family member that could verify it.
I originally thought he was protecting somebody, but then started thinking, he may be scared. Also, I thought he may have possibly been a z suspect himself since he had been living in SB County, but he was only about 16 when D&E were killed. Beronio died in 1992, and before he did, he and his Wife divorced. I wrote to her asking for her comment on the incident, and she never replied.
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 3:08 pm
by morf13
Bayarea60s wrote:Mike....
I think the MIL already read the info in the paper, cause she cites the exact order that MM gave to RO of the description of Z, and yet she couldn't remember the name given to her. It could be Beronio was told that by a buddy, and the buddy was a BSer, wanted to make himself involved in the big case in Vallejo (there was a lot of that going on in Vallejo then). It could be Beronio was BSing his MIL to somehow impress her, that he knew the bad guy.
Possible, but he claims he was approached by this Guy on 7/5. Not sure what day he told hi Mother in law, but if he told her the same day, how likely would either of them know that Z possibly was driving a brown car,and also, how could he know that the attacker was heavy/stocky? Beronio's wife also was supposed to have witnessed this. Question is, at what point did the brown car being the possible attacker's car come out? Also, find it interesting that the guy wanted to go to Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County, close to the Domnigos/Edwards crime. If he was making it up, why choose that area?
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 5:06 pm
by Quicktrader
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 5:31 pm
by TruthSeeker
Morf,
Great find, but a question, why if the unnamed party had his own car, would he need to catch a ride with a friend?
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 6:27 pm
by Tahoe27
It is a curious situation and would have been more-so had the couple confirmed it. All the cops had to go on was he said, she said. It does seem like quite the elaborate tale having made it up completely. I could see why the couple might want to deny it--especially if they thought it could be the BRS shooter--not knowing of "Zodiac" at this point in time.
Would have been interesting if LE was able to get that entire family (the ones directly involved) in the room to see who it was who was bs-ing.
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 10:02 pm
by morf13
Donald Lance Beronio died in 1992. I reached out to his ex-wife, but she didnt reply.
Re: Donald Beronio's story

Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 10:05 pm
by morf13
TruthSeeker wrote:Morf,
Great find, but a question, why if the unnamed party had his own car, would he need to catch a ride with a friend?
Not sure, that part's a bit odd. I wonder if he would make this story up for some unknown reason. Then again, he supposedly told his Mother in law about this soon after it happened on 7/5/69- could he have had details from the papers? Did they immediately report that the suspect's car was possibly brown, or that the attacker was heavyset & stocky?