The Golden State Killer: A Life of Crime Unmasked
For more than four decades, the man who came to be known as the Golden State Killer terrorised communities across California, committing a staggering number of violent crimes—at least 13 murders, 51 rapes, and 120 burglaries. His reign of terror spanned from 1974 to 1986, during which time he became known by several different aliases, each linked to a distinct crime spree before investigators realised that these crimes had all been committed by the same person. In Visalia, he was the Visalia Ransacker, a prolific burglar who engaged in an unusual pattern of ransacking homes. In Sacramento and the surrounding areas, he was known as the East Area Rapist, preying on women and couples with calculated cruelty. Later, in Southern California, he was dubbed the Night Stalker, and then the Original Night Stalker to differentiate him from serial killer Richard Ramirez, who later claimed the same moniker.
For decades, police struggled to find their man, eliminating several suspects through DNA testing, alibis, and other investigative methods. In 2001, DNA evidence confirmed that the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker were, in fact, the same person, leading to the creation of the acronym EARONS. The case had such an impact that it was a driving factor in the establishment of California’s DNA database, which collects DNA from all accused and convicted felons, making it one of the most effective tools for solving cold cases in the United States. Despite this, the case remained unsolved for nearly two more decades. In 2016, the FBI and local law enforcement renewed their efforts to catch the elusive offender, offering a $50,000 reward for information.
The breakthrough finally came in April 2018, when authorities arrested 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a former police officer and Vietnam War veteran, after using forensic genetic genealogy to match his DNA to crime scene evidence. On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and kidnapping, and later admitted to numerous additional crimes, including rapes that could no longer be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in August 2020, finally bringing closure to decades of investigation.
Early Life: The Making of a Predator
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was born on November 8, 1945, in Bath, New York, to Kathleen “Kay” Louise DeGroat and Joseph James DeAngelo Sr. His father, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, was a strict and, according to family members, abusive man. DeAngelo had two older sisters, Connie and Rebecca, and a younger brother named John. While the family was stationed in West Germany, DeAngelo allegedly witnessed the rape of his older sister Connie by two airmen in a warehouse. This traumatic event has been speculated to have played a role in his later violent behaviour.
As a child, DeAngelo was reportedly subjected to physical abuse at the hands of his father, which his sister Rebecca later confirmed. In the late 1950s, the family relocated to Rancho Cordova, California, where he attended Mills Junior High School and later Folsom High School. He dropped out but later earned a GED certificate in 1964. During his teenage years, DeAngelo reportedly engaged in petty crimes, including burglary, mail theft, and the torture and killing of animals, a disturbing trait often seen in violent offenders.
In September 1964, DeAngelo joined the U.S. Navy, serving for 22 months aboard the USS Canberra and the USS Piedmont during the Vietnam War. Following his military service, he attended Sierra College in Rocklin, California, where he graduated with honours in police science. He later obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Sacramento State University in 1971.
After completing his studies, DeAngelo continued his police training at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, followed by a 32-week police internship with the Roseville Police Department. In May 1973, he began working as a burglary unit officer in Exeter, California, a position he held until August 1976. In Auburn, California, he served as a police officer from 1976 to 1979, until he was caught shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent, leading to his dismissal. His former colleagues later recalled that he reacted with rage, stalking the police chief’s home and allegedly threatening to kill him.
Marriage and Family Life
In May 1970, DeAngelo became engaged to Bonnie Jean Colwell, a nursing student he met at Sierra College. Their relationship ended in 1971 after she found him to be controlling and manipulative. At one point, he attempted to force her to marry him at gunpoint, an incident that would resurface decades later when investigators discovered that during one of his rapes in 1978, he had whispered, “I hate you, Bonnie” to his victim.
In November 1973, he married Sharon Marie Huddle, a law student who later became a divorce attorney. They bought a home in Citrus Heights, California, in 1980, the same home where he would be arrested 38 years later. The couple had three daughters, and despite his escalating crimes, DeAngelo maintained the appearance of a stable family life. His eldest daughter later described him as a “perfect father”, and his wife accepted his frequent absences. They separated in 1991, though they did not officially divorce until 2019, after his arrest.
The Crime Spree Begins: The Visalia Ransacker (1974–1976)
DeAngelo’s first known criminal activity as the Visalia Ransacker began in March 1974, with a string of burglaries in Visalia, California. Unlike a typical burglar, he exhibited bizarre behaviour, often vandalising the homes he broke into by scattering women’s underwear, rummaging through drawers, and taking small sentimental items while leaving money and valuables untouched. He was linked to 120 burglaries, and in September 1975, he escalated to murder, shooting Claude Snelling as he tried to kidnap his teenage daughter.
Following a confrontation with a police officer in December 1975, DeAngelo disappeared from Visalia, but his crime spree was far from over.
The East Area Rapist: 51 Sexual Assaults Across Sacramento (1976–1979)
In mid-1976, DeAngelo moved to Sacramento County, where he quickly escalated his criminal behaviour. Over three years, he committed at least 50 rapes, targeting both women alone and couples. His attacks were methodical and sadistic—he stalked victims for weeks, called them to gauge their routines, and entered their homes while they were sleeping.
After binding his victims, he would separate couples, often placing dishes on the man’s back and warning that if he heard them rattle, he would kill everyone in the house. He would rape his female victims repeatedly, staying in the home for hours, sometimes eating food or taking small souvenirs.
In February 1978, he committed his first known double homicide, shooting Brian and Katie Maggiore as they walked their dog in Rancho Cordova. This marked a turning point, as he began killing his victims outright.
The Original Night Stalker: Murder Becomes Routine (1979–1986)
In 1979, DeAngelo moved south, where his attacks turned increasingly violent. He raped and murdered victims across Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Orange counties. His victims included Dr. Robert Offerman and Debra Manning, Lyman and Charlene Smith, and Janelle Cruz, an 18-year-old that was brutally beaten, raped and then killed in 1986, marking the last known attack.
For years, his identity remained a mystery—until DNA and forensic genealogy finally unmasked him in 2018.
The first major step toward identifying the Golden State Killer came in 2001, when forensic testing confirmed that the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker were the same person. Prior to this discovery, investigators had not realised that the Northern California rapist was also responsible for the murders in Southern California. The link was made when DNA from multiple crime scenes was compared, revealing a single genetic profile belonging to an unknown suspect. This discovery helped to narrow the scope of the investigation, but without a name attached to the DNA, investigators were still at a standstill.
By the early 2010s, the case had gained renewed attention, in part due to the efforts of crime writer Michelle McNamara, who dubbed the perpetrator the Golden State Killer in her book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. In 2016, the FBI and California law enforcement held a press conference, announcing a $50,000 reward for information leading to the suspect’s capture. Despite this, there was still no definitive lead on his identity.
The Breakthrough: Forensic Genetic Genealogy
The game-changing moment in the investigation came in 2018, when investigators turned to forensic genetic genealogy, a method that had never been used before to solve a major criminal case. Instead of comparing DNA to a criminal database (such as CODIS, the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System), which only contains records of convicted felons, investigators uploaded the Golden State Killer’s DNA profile to GEDmatch, a public genealogy database used by people searching for their family ancestry.
This technique involves tracing a suspect’s family tree by identifying distant relatives who share portions of their DNA. By analysing the family connections of these distant relatives, investigators were able to narrow down their search to a specific family line.
Once a partial match was found in April 2018, they began investigating family members who fit the profile—white males in their 60s or 70s, with a history of living in California during the time of the crimes. This led them to Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a former police officer who had lived in the areas where the crimes were committed.
Confirming the DNA Match
Even with this strong lead, investigators needed direct DNA evidence from DeAngelo himself to confirm the match. In mid-April 2018, surveillance teams began following DeAngelo, watching his daily movements. To obtain his DNA without tipping him off, they collected items he discarded in public.
The first major sample was taken from a tissue that DeAngelo had thrown into his household rubbish, which was collected and tested. The results were conclusive: his DNA was an exact match to the DNA from multiple Golden State Killer crime scenes.
To be absolutely certain, investigators obtained a second sample—this time from a door handle on his car. When this test also returned a positive match, they had irrefutable evidence. After more than 40 years of investigation, the Golden State Killer had finally been identified.
The Arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo
On April 24, 2018, law enforcement officers moved in to arrest DeAngelo at his home in Citrus Heights, California. Despite the decades of horror he had inflicted upon his victims, DeAngelo did not attempt to resist. Officers approached him while he was working on a car in his driveway and took him into custody without incident.
Inside his home, investigators discovered a meticulously ordinary existence. His neighbours, some of whom had known him for years, described him as a cranky but seemingly harmless old man who often yelled at people over minor disturbances. Some recalled that he would have sudden, violent outbursts, often shouting profanities for no apparent reason.
At the time of his arrest, DeAngelo was living with one of his daughters and a granddaughter. His ex-wife, Sharon Marie Huddle, had long since separated from him, having filed for divorce just three months after his arrest.
When confronted by law enforcement, DeAngelo reportedly muttered to himself in a bizarre, detached manner, saying, “I did all those things. I didn’t have the strength to push him out.” This cryptic statement led some to speculate that he was referring to an alternate personality or inner force that had driven him to commit his crimes.
The Trial and Sentencing
Once in custody, DeAngelo faced an overwhelming amount of evidence. However, due to California’s statute of limitations, he could not be charged with many of the rapes he had committed in the 1970s. Instead, he was charged with 13 counts of murder and 13 related counts of kidnapping.
In August 2018, he was formally charged with the murder of Claude Snelling, linking him officially to the Visalia Ransacker crimes.
On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and kidnapping as part of a plea deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty. As part of the agreement, he also admitted to numerous rapes, burglaries, and other crimes for which he could not be formally prosecuted.
During the sentencing hearing in August 2020, many of DeAngelo’s victims and their family members spoke directly to him, recounting the trauma and fear he had inflicted upon them. DeAngelo, now frail and seemingly emotionless, sat silently as his victims confronted him.
On August 21, 2020, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, finally bringing an end to a case that had haunted California for more than four decades.
The Legacy of the Golden State Killer Case
The capture and conviction of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. marked a landmark moment in forensic investigation. His case was the first high-profile example of forensic genetic genealogy leading to the identification of a serial criminal, and its success has since influenced numerous other investigations worldwide.
Since DeAngelo’s arrest, forensic genealogy has been used to solve dozens of other cold cases, including murders, rapes, and disappearances that had remained unsolved for decades. The method has been hailed as one of the most significant breakthroughs in forensic science since the advent of DNA profiling itself.
For the victims and their families, justice was long overdue. Many had lived in fear for years, never knowing if the man who had attacked them was still out there. Though no sentence could undo the trauma he caused, the knowledge that he was finally behind bars provided a sense of closure and relief.