Golden State killer poses for new prison mugshot as he begins serving multiple life sentences for rapes and murders that terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s
A former police officer who eluded authorities for years as the Golden State Killer has arrived in state prison.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, will today begin serving multiple life sentences for rapes and murders that terrorized much of California in the 1970s and 1980s.
DeAngelo arrived at North Kern State Prison, a reception center in the Central Valley about 140 miles north of Los Angeles.
Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer who eluded authorities for years as the Golden State Killer arrived in state prison Tuesday to begin serving multiple consecutive life sentences for sadistic rapes and murders
Officials there will decide his permanent prison destination based on his security, medical, psychiatric and program needs, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton.
DeAngelo pleaded guilty in June to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges that spanned much of California between 1975 and 1986. The plea deal spared him the death penalty.
He admitted victimizing at least 87 people at 53 separate crime scenes spanning 11 California counties, though some of the crimes were too old to be formally charged.
DeAngelo's rapes and eventual murders followed the same pattern. He would tie up couples he surprised while they slept, then assault the woman as the man lay helpless. He would place dishes on the man´s back, warning that he would kill them both if the dishes rattled.
He was sentenced in August after an extraordinary four-day hearing with emotional testimony from many of his victims or their survivors.
DeAngelo eluded capture for four decades before he was finally unmasked in 2018 with a pioneering use of DNA tracing.
To finally identify and arrest him, investigators pioneered a new method of DNA tracing that involves building a family tree from publicly accessible genealogy websites to narrow the list of suspects.
Jane Carson-Sandler, who was raped by the serial killer in 1976, confronted DeAngelo during the second day of victim impact statements at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse on Wednesday.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, - aka the Golden State Killer - stood up from his wheelchair and removed his mask before apologizing to his victims and their families in court in August
They linked nearly 40-year-old DNA from crime scenes to a distant relative, and eventually to a discarded tissue they surreptitiously sneaked from DeAngelo's garbage can in suburban Sacramento.
The same technique has since been used to solve 93 murders and rapes across the nation, said Ron Harrington, the brother of one of DeAngelo's victims.
'It is probably the most important advancement by law enforcement in solving cold case murders and rapes,' he said.
The sweep of his crimes is measured by the mysterious stalker's nicknames over the years, prosecutors said: the Visalia Ransacker, thought to be responsible for about 100 burglaries and one slaying in the San Joaquin Valley farm town; the East Area Rapist; the Original Night Stalker; and finally, the Golden State Killer when investigators linked the crimes that stretched across much of the state.
DeAngelo is pictured in the early 70s when he worked with the Exeter Police Department. He married Huddle in 1973
'He started off as a Peeping Tom, a voyeur, somebody lurking around women´s bedrooms at night peering in. He then became a two-bit burglar, breaking into women's bedrooms, stealing trinkets and women´s underwear,' Ron Harrington recalled.
That escalated to raping single women, then to humiliating couples.
His technique became his trademark: He would force his victims at gunpoint to bind themselves with shoelaces, then balance plates on the man´s back with a warning that he would kill both victims if he heard the plates rattle while he raped the woman.
He killed three early Northern California victims when they interfered with his assaults on women. But he escalated again when he moved to Southern California, to 10 known murders.
Even DeAngelo's ex-wife, Sacramento attorney Sharon Huddle, said in a court filing that she was fooled, though many victims have wondered aloud how she could not have known of her husband´s double life.
'I trusted the defendant when he told me he had to work, or was going pheasant hunting, or going to visit his parents hundreds of miles away,' Huddle wrote.
'You are finally going to prison and will remain there until you die,' Jane Carson-Sandler, who was raped in 1976, told DeAngelo in August.
She recalled that he famously left behind a roast in the oven when police moved in to make their arrest on April 24, 2018. His survivors, she said, now plan to celebrate each anniversary of his arrest with a similar feast 'in memory of your capture.'
'Too bad you won't get to enjoy it,' she said.
DEANGELO'S CRIMES
1974-1975: 120 burglaries in Visalia and surrounding areas
June 18, 1976: Sexual assault/rape, Rancho Cordova
July 17, 1976: Sexual assault/rape, Carmichael
August 29, 1976: Burglary, attempted sexual assault, Rancho Cordova
Sept. 4, 1976: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
Oct. 5, 1976: Sexual Assault/rape, Citrus Heights
Oct. 9, 1976: Sexual Assault/rape, Rancho Cordova
Oct. 18, 1976: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
Oct. 18, 1976: Carjacking, Rancho Cordova
Nov. 10, 1976: Kidnapping, Citrus Heights
Dec. 18, 1976: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
Jan. 18, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Sacramento
Jan. 24, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Citrus Heights
Feb. 7, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
Feb. 16, 1977: Assault, attempted murder, Sacramento
March 8, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Sacramento
March 18, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Rancho Cordova
April 2, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Orangevale
April 15, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
May 3, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Sacramento
May 5, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Orangevale
May 14, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Citrus Heights
May 17, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
May 28, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Sacramento
Sept. 6, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Stockton
Oct. 1, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Rancho Cordova
Oct. 21, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Sacramento
Oct. 29, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Sacramento
Nov. 10, 1977: Sexual Assault/rape, Sacramento
Dec. 2, 1977: Attempted sexual assault, Sacramento
Jan. 28, 1978: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
Jan. 29, 1979: Sexual Assault/rape, Carmichael
Feb. 2, 1978: Brian and Katie Maggiore were killed, Rancho Cordova
March 18, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Stockton
April 14, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Sacramento
June 5, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Modesto
June 7, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Davis
June 23, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Modesto
June 24, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Davis
July 6, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Davis
Oct. 7, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Concord
Oct. 13, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, Concord
Oct. 28, 1978: San Ramon
Nov. 4, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, San Jose
Dec. 2, 1978: Sexual assault/rape,San Jose
Dec. 8, 1978: Sexual assault/rape (DNA link), Danville
Dec. 18, 1978: Sexual assault/rape, San Ramon
March 20, 1979: Sexual assault/rape, Rancho Cordova
April 4, 1979: Sexual assault/rape, Fremont
June 2, 1979: Sexual assault/rape, Walnut Creek
June 11, 1979: Sexual assault/rape (DNA link), Danville
June 25, 1979: Sexual assault/rape, Walnut Creek
July 5, 1979: Attempted sexual assault, Danville
Oct. 1, 1979: Attempted sexual assault/murder (no DNA) Goleta
Dec. 30, 1979: 2 people killed, Goleta
March 13, 1980: Sexual assault/rape, Lyman and Charlene Smith were killed (DNA link), Ventura
Aug. 19, 1980: Sexual assault/rape, Keith and Patrice Harrington killed, Dana Point
Feb. 5, 1981: Sexual assault/rape, Manuela Witthuhn killed (DNA link), Irvine
July 27, 1981: 2 people killed (DNA link), Goleta
May 4, 1986: Sexual assault/rape, Janelle Cruz killed(DNA link) Irvine
