Monster cop’s victims relive their horrors
THE sister of a victim of the Golden State Killer called him “an evil monster” as he appeared before her at his sentencing hearing.
Joseph DeAngelo – a California policeman during his crimes in the 1970s and 1980s – sat impassively as survivors give impact statements describing their ordeals.
In June, the 74-year-old pleaded guilty to 13 counts of murder, 13 counts of kidnapping and confessed to 161 uncharged crimes – many of which were rapes.
The Vietnam war veteran admitted attacking 87 victims in a plea deal that spared him the death penalty.
Victims appearing at Sacramento County Superior Court described enduring hours of torture while they were bound, blindfolded, gagged, beaten and raped during attacks that date back to 1975.
Kris Pedretti was 15 when DeAngelo raped her in December 1976.
She said: “He tormented me. And he told me over, and over again he would kill me.
“At three different times that night, I thought I was going to die.
“The next morning, I woke up knowing I would never be a child again and, although I was grateful to be alive, I also felt that I had died.” Looking at him she said: “I would ask him, ‘Do you feel any remorse for what you did to me?’”
Sandy James said her late sister, Deborah Strouse, lived with a constant fear of the man who raped her. She said: “It saddens me to my core that my sister was not here to witness DeAngelo’s capture and incarceration. “Instead, she went to her grave, still haunted by the evil monster that invaded her life.” DeAngelo eluded his former California police colleagues until 2018 when his DNA was linked to the crimes through a genealogy website to which one of his relatives had submitted their DNA.
He is expected to be sentenced to life in prison tomorrow.