After 40 years, ex-police officer is charged with the Golden State killings
victims spoke of her relief. Jennifer Carole, whose father and stepmother, Lyman and Charlene Smith were bludgeoned to death in their home in 1980 said: “I’ve been afraid this whole time. I didn’t ever want him to find me.”
Neighbours have told of their shock, describing the Vietnam veteran as a “nice old grandpa”.
Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said: “We all knew that we were looking for a needle in a haystack. We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento.”
County Sheriff Scott Jones said: “When he came out of his residence, we had a team in place that was able to take him into custody. He was very surprised by that.
“DeAngelo told the officers he had a roast in the oven, but they assured him there was no need for him to return to the house.
“All too often we forget to talk about the victims, and today we at least brought the first step towards closure for those victims of these horrendous crimes. Very possibly he was committing these crimes during the time he was employed as a police officer, and obviously we’ll be looking into whether it was actually on the job.”
In 1976, nursing student Jane Carson-Sandler was raped with her three-year-old son next to her.
Ms Carson-Sandler, now 72, said: “It’s just so nice to have closure and to know he’s in jail.”
His first victims Brian and Katie Maggiore were shot and killed while walking their dog in 1978.
Another couple were beaten to death. Bruce Harrington, the brother of the husband said: “It is time for the victims to begin to heal.”
The suspect, also dubbed by investigators as the “East Area Rapist” DeAngelo, left, after his arrest. Police bag evidence at his home, right. Above, DeAngelo’s victims, from left, Katie and Brian Maggiore, and Charlene and Lyman Smith and the “Original Night Stalker,” is considered one of the state’s most prolific serial killers, the FBI said.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said: “Finally, after all these years, the haunting question of who committed these terrible crimes has been put to rest.”
Exeter Police Chief John Hall said: “It is absolutely shocking that someone can commit such heinous crimes, and finding out someone in a position of trust could betray that is absolutely unbelievable.”
DeAngelo, who is divorced with a daughter and granddaughter, joined the Exeter Police Department, California in 1973 and worked there until 1976, during which time the area close to the city of Visalia was terrorised by 85 burglaries and a murder, crimes attributed to a perpetrator known as the Visalia Ransacker.
In 1976, he transferred to Auburn, California, but was sacked in 1979 after a conviction for shoplifting. He later became a mechanic.
The majority of the rapes occurred in the years while DeAngelo was a police officer, but from December 1979 to May 1986, 10 people in California were killed in murders tied to an attacker called the East Area Rapist who was never identified.
The unsolved killings were not linked for years, and not linked to the rapes until 2000. They are now all believed to be the work of the Golden State Killer.
The search was renewed in 2016 when a task force was created to find him.