'Golden State Killer' was ex-police officer living in California, say police
Wednesday morning, a law enforcement official identified the "East Area Rapist" as a former police officer who lived in Citrus Heights, according to The Associated Press.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 77, was arrested overnight on suspicion of two counts of murder cited in a Ventura County warrant, Sacramento County Jail records show. He is being held without bail in the Sacramento County Jail.
The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office is going to make a "major announcement" Wednesday in the development of the case of the East Area Rapist who began terrorizing Sacramento County and other cities up and down California in the 1970s.
The East Area Rapist, also known as the "Golden State Killer" and the "Original Night Stalker," was believed to be responsible for at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and 150 burglaries in multiple Northern California counties, including Sacramento, Yolo, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, before moving on to commit crimes elsewhere in the state.
Jane Carson-Sandler, who was sexually assaulted in California in 1976 by a man believed to be the East Area Rapist, said she received an email Wednesday from a retired detective who worked on the case, telling her police have identified the rapist and he's in custody, according to The Associated Press.
"I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It's an emotional roller coaster right now," Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head, South Carolina, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's not going to be true. It's just so nice to have closure and to know he's in jail."
The East Area Rapist had blond or light brown hair and was about 5 feet 9 inches tall when he committed the crimes. He would now be between 60 and 75 years old, investigators said.
The criminal was given the name East Area Rapist because of where his crimes began in June 1976. He began striking in eastern Sacramento County in the Rancho Cordova area, officials said.
Brian and Katie Maggiore were killed in February 1978 while out walking their dog in Rancho Cordova. The East Area Rapist chased the couple into a backyard, where he shot and killed them, investigators said.
After the double homicide, the East Area Rapist began committing crimes in Davis, Modesto and Stockton, which police were able to link because of their similarities in the crimes.
The serial killer was responsible for 36 crimes in Sacramento County and later moved to Southern California, where his DNA was linked to 10 slayings from 1979 to 1986. That's where he became known as the Original Night Stalker, and a writer later gave him the name the Golden State Killer, the FBI said.
His victims ranged in age from 13 to 41 years old and included single women in their homes, women at home with children and even those whose husbands were with them.
In some cases, the East Area Rapist would get into the home, tie up the woman’s husband and commit the sexual assault or killing inside the house. He would often place the husband facedown and put cups or plates on his back so he could hear if the husband broke free of bonds, according to investigators.
The serial killer was known to use a gun and, at times, had a knife. It is believed that he was possibly in the military or had a big interest in the military or law enforcement because of the ways in which he committed his crimes, the FBI said.
It was reported Tuesday that American law enforcement agencies reached out to police in Australia to determine if the East Area Rapist may have moved abroad, becoming the infamous Mr. Cruel.
The Australian reported Tuesday that Los Angeles investigators had a suspect in the California slayings who they learned moved to Australia. The year after the Golden State Killer murders ended, Mr. Cruel emerged in Australia.
Mr. Cruel, who was also never caught, raped three girls under the age of 14 from 1987-91. The crimes stopped after the murder of a fourth, 13-year-old Karmein Chan, in a suburb of Melbourne.
More than 40 years after the first crimes, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office released in October a set of photographs and sketches depicting items stolen by the East Area Rapist.
Among them were fine china and jewelry, which investigators hoped someone might recognize as items taken by the serial criminal.
The FBI and Sacramento County officials announced a$50,000 reward in June 2016 for the arrest of the East Area Rapist and District Attorney Anne Marie Shubert spoke about the emotional toll the crimes had taken on the community.
“The reason why it was so memorable is because it was a time in our community when we didn't have cellphone or cell towers,” Schubert said. “We didn’t lock our doors at night. We rode our bikes around. It was a time of innocence, and in June of 1976, that all changed. The community was taken hostage. It was on the news every night.”