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Joseph James DeAngelo
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Joseph James DeAngelo
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (born November 8, 1945) is an American serial killer, serial rapist and former police officer known as the Golden State Killer, the Original Night Stalker, the East Area Rapist and the Visalia Ransacker, who committed at least 13 murders and numerous rapes and burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986. The crimes began in northern California where DeAngelo committed a minimum of 120 burglaries and one murder in the San Joaquin Valley before moving to Sacramento County, where he committed at least 51 rapes and two more murders from 1976 to 1979. In southern California, DeAngelo murdered at least ten people from 1979 until 1986 before going dormant.
After committing a series of highly publicized burglaries in and around Visalia, DeAngelo escalated to raping victims in east Sacramento and was additionally linked to attacks in Stockton, Modesto, and Contra Costa County. DeAngelo committed serial murders in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Orange counties from 1979 to 1986. He is believed to have taunted and threatened both victims and police via obscene phone calls and possibly written communications. During the decades-long investigation, several suspects were cleared through DNA evidence, alibis or other investigative methods.
In 2001, DNA testing indicated that the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker were the same person. The case was a factor in the establishment of California's DNA database, which collects DNA from all accused and convicted felons in California and has been called second only to Virginia's in effectiveness in solving cold cases. In an attempt to increase awareness, crime writer Michelle McNamara coined the name "Golden State Killer".
In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement agencies held a news conference to announce a renewed nationwide effort, offering a $50,000 reward for the Golden State Killer's capture. On April 24, 2018, California authorities charged 72-year-old DeAngelo with eight counts of first-degree murder, based upon DNA evidence; investigators had identified members of DeAngelo's family through forensic genetic genealogy. This was also the first announcement connecting the Visalia Ransacker crimes to DeAngelo.
Owing to California's statute of limitations on pre-2017 rape cases, DeAngelo could not be charged with the rapes he had committed in the 1970s; but he was charged in August 2018 with thirteen related kidnapping and abduction attempts. On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and kidnapping. As part of a plea bargain that spared him the death penalty, DeAngelo also admitted to numerous crimes with which he had not been formally charged, including rapes. On August 21, 2020, DeAngelo was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was born on November 8, 1945, in Bath, New York, to Kathleen "Kay" Louise DeGroat and Joseph James DeAngelo Sr, a sergeant in the United States Army. He is of Italian ancestry and has two sisters, Rebecca and Constance "Connie" and a brother, John. A relative reported that when DeAngelo was a young child, he witnessed the rape of Connie by two airmen in a U.S. Air Force base warehouse in West Germany, where the family was stationed at the time. Following DeAngelo's conviction, Rebecca stated that he was abused by their father while he was growing up.
Between 1959 and 1960, DeAngelo attended Mills Junior High School in Rancho Cordova, California. Beginning in 1961, he attended Folsom High School, from which he received a GED certificate in 1964. He played on the school's junior varsity baseball team. Prosecutors reported that DeAngelo committed burglaries, mail theft, and tortured and killed animals during his teenage years.
DeAngelo joined the United States Navy in September 1964 and served for 22 months during the Vietnam War as a damage controlman on the cruiser USS Canberra and the destroyer tender USS Piedmont. Beginning in August 1968, DeAngelo attended Sierra College in Rocklin, California; he graduated with an associate degree in police science, with honors. He attended Sacramento State University in 1971, where he earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. DeAngelo later took post-graduate courses and further police training at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, then completed a 32-week police internship at the police department in Roseville.
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Joseph James DeAngelo
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (born November 8, 1945) is an American serial killer, serial rapist and former police officer known as the Golden State Killer, the Original Night Stalker, the East Area Rapist and the Visalia Ransacker, who committed at least 13 murders and numerous rapes and burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986. The crimes began in northern California where DeAngelo committed a minimum of 120 burglaries and one murder in the San Joaquin Valley before moving to Sacramento County, where he committed at least 51 rapes and two more murders from 1976 to 1979. In southern California, DeAngelo murdered at least ten people from 1979 until 1986 before going dormant.
After committing a series of highly publicized burglaries in and around Visalia, DeAngelo escalated to raping victims in east Sacramento and was additionally linked to attacks in Stockton, Modesto, and Contra Costa County. DeAngelo committed serial murders in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Orange counties from 1979 to 1986. He is believed to have taunted and threatened both victims and police via obscene phone calls and possibly written communications. During the decades-long investigation, several suspects were cleared through DNA evidence, alibis or other investigative methods.
In 2001, DNA testing indicated that the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker were the same person. The case was a factor in the establishment of California's DNA database, which collects DNA from all accused and convicted felons in California and has been called second only to Virginia's in effectiveness in solving cold cases. In an attempt to increase awareness, crime writer Michelle McNamara coined the name "Golden State Killer".
In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement agencies held a news conference to announce a renewed nationwide effort, offering a $50,000 reward for the Golden State Killer's capture. On April 24, 2018, California authorities charged 72-year-old DeAngelo with eight counts of first-degree murder, based upon DNA evidence; investigators had identified members of DeAngelo's family through forensic genetic genealogy. This was also the first announcement connecting the Visalia Ransacker crimes to DeAngelo.
Owing to California's statute of limitations on pre-2017 rape cases, DeAngelo could not be charged with the rapes he had committed in the 1970s; but he was charged in August 2018 with thirteen related kidnapping and abduction attempts. On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and kidnapping. As part of a plea bargain that spared him the death penalty, DeAngelo also admitted to numerous crimes with which he had not been formally charged, including rapes. On August 21, 2020, DeAngelo was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was born on November 8, 1945, in Bath, New York, to Kathleen "Kay" Louise DeGroat and Joseph James DeAngelo Sr, a sergeant in the United States Army. He is of Italian ancestry and has two sisters, Rebecca and Constance "Connie" and a brother, John. A relative reported that when DeAngelo was a young child, he witnessed the rape of Connie by two airmen in a U.S. Air Force base warehouse in West Germany, where the family was stationed at the time. Following DeAngelo's conviction, Rebecca stated that he was abused by their father while he was growing up.
Between 1959 and 1960, DeAngelo attended Mills Junior High School in Rancho Cordova, California. Beginning in 1961, he attended Folsom High School, from which he received a GED certificate in 1964. He played on the school's junior varsity baseball team. Prosecutors reported that DeAngelo committed burglaries, mail theft, and tortured and killed animals during his teenage years.
DeAngelo joined the United States Navy in September 1964 and served for 22 months during the Vietnam War as a damage controlman on the cruiser USS Canberra and the destroyer tender USS Piedmont. Beginning in August 1968, DeAngelo attended Sierra College in Rocklin, California; he graduated with an associate degree in police science, with honors. He attended Sacramento State University in 1971, where he earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. DeAngelo later took post-graduate courses and further police training at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, then completed a 32-week police internship at the police department in Roseville.
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