Post by Graveyardbride on Apr 25, 2018 12:16:37 GMT -5
Arrest in ‘Golden State Killer’ Case
After more than three decades, authorities have arrested a man suspected of terrorizing communities throughout California in the late 1970s and early 80s who became known first as the “East Area Rapist” and later the “Golden State Killer,” according to the Sacramento Bee. The suspect has been living in the Sacramento area and was identified after a renewed push by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert.
Although no suspect has been publicly identified, records indicate Joseph James DeAngelo (above right) was booked into the county jail Tuesday night on two counts of murder, based on an arrest warrant from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.
On Wednesday morning, FBI agents and law enforcement officials from Sacramento County and Southern California were searching 8316 Canyon Oak Drive in Citrus Heights. The Bee is reporting that Joseph James DeAngelo has lived at this address for at least two decades, according to public records.
The killer, also known as the Original Night Stalker and the Diamond Knot Killer, is believed to have killed at least 12 people, raped at least 45 women and burglarized hundreds of homes in the Sacramento area, Central Valley, Bay Area and Southern California. Investigators believe the suspect was active in Sacramento between 1976 and 1978, culminating in the murder of a husband and wife on Feb. 2, 1978, in Rancho Cordova, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. Following the murders of Katie and Brian Maggiore, the East Area Rapist didn’t strike within the jurisdiction of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department again. But authorities believe the same man continued terrorizing residents in the Bay Area before committing several murders in Southern California. The DNA from evidence located during both series was linked in 2001, according to authorities.
Authorities believe the suspect raped 37 people in the Sacramento area and Central Valley and killed two between 1976 and 1978, according to the Bee. He is believed to have attacked people in San Jose, Concord, San Ramon, Walnut Creek and Danville, among many other cities.
On the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office website, there is a section dedicated to the cold case, including a video interview with homicide Sgt. Paul Belli published in June, 2016. In the video, Belli describes the terror that was unleashed in the late 1970s during a string of rapes in the Sacramento area. “It was so impactful on so many people,” Belli said. “Even now, all this time later, as we talk to other people, we always get the stories about what was going on in peoples lives. I’ve heard stories of fathers sleeping with guns by their bedsides, shotguns very close, things of that nature.” Belli describes the suspect as “an extremely prolific offender. When you look at a number of the sexual assaults that occurred in Sacramento County, that takes a great toll on the families,” he added. “A number of them were couples. Here you have somebody’s wife being raped in their home while the husband is home and unable to do anything about it. That’s very terrorizing. That can only be described to me as somebody who’s wanting to develop that terror and create that type of fear.”
The sheriff’s office also included a video interview with FBI Special Agent Marcus Knutson, who described how the East Area Rapist operated in the Sacramento area during the late 70s. The first rape occurred on June 18, 1976, when a female was assaulted un the Rancho Cordova area of Sacramento. The crimes escalated with the rapist breaking into homes occupied by single women and couples, Knutson explained. When the suspect found a couple in bed, he would have the woman bind the man, then the rapist would bind the woman and re-bind the man. After this, he would take the woman to another part of the house and rape her. In some instances, the rapist would put plates or cups on the backs of the male victims, threatening to come back and kill them if the plates crashed. “Our guy would vanish in the middle of the night,” Knutson said. “He would just disappear.”
Authorities believe the reign of terror included phone calls with threats of murder. The FBI’s website includes an audio recording of a 1977 phone call believed to be from the East Area Rapist in which a woman answers “Hello?” and the caller breathes heavily into the receiver and whispers “I’m going to kill you” three times.
Also on the FBI website are interviews with local police who investigated the Sacramento area rapes. The first recorded victim said she did not heard her rapist enter her home, but suddenly noticed a man in her bedroom door. At first she thought it was her father, who often worked late hours. But instead it was a man wearing a ski mask over his face and carrying a knife. “I don’t remember exactly what he said, something like ‘Don’t scream,’” the victim recalled. “He tied my hands behind my back. ... I just remember feeling extremely threatened. After it was all over and done with, he went through the stuff in my room.” The woman said she lay in bed for what seemed like hours waiting to hear him leave before mustering the courage to move. Even years later, she admitted she often felt “the tinglies, like someone’s watching you.”
A five-part documentary about the case, Unmasking a Killer, recently aired on HLN.
Source: Mark Gomez, The San José Mercury News, April 25, 2018.
