40 years on, US man held for murders and rapes
los angeles — A 72-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of being the “Golden State Killer,” a notorious rapist and murderer who terrorised California in the 1970s and 1980s.
Joseph James DeAngelo, of Citrus Heights, California, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with two counts of murder, officials said at a press conference in the state capital Sacramento.
According to local television stations, DeAngelo was a former policeman.
“The magnitude of this case demanded that it be solved,” Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at a press conference. “This case deeply affected this entire state.”
Schubert said DNA helped bring the authorities to DeAngelo 40 years after his first attack. “The answer was and always was going to be in the DNA,” she said.
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said DeAngelo had been arrested for the February 2, 1978 murders of a newlywed couple, Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, who were shot to death in Rancho Cordova while walking their dog.
Also known as the “East Area Rapist” and “Original Nightstalker,” the Golden State Killer carried out at least 12 murders, more than 50 rapes and 120 home burglaries in California between 1976 and 1986, according to the FBI.
His victims ranged in age from 13 to 41. “Everyone was afraid,” FBI special agent Marcus Knutson was quoted on the FBI website as saying.
“We had people sleeping with shotguns, we had people purchasing dogs. People were concerned, and they had a right to be. This guy was terrorising the community. He did horrible things,” Knutson said.
The Golden State Killer was the subject of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, a best-selling book published earlier this year by true crime writer Michelle McNamara. McNamara died two years ago at the age of 46 but her book helped spark renewed interest in the case. —