If the Golden State Killer stopped, the reason is unknown

Final known homicide occurred in 1986 in Orange County

In the early morning of July 27, 1981, the Golden State Killer sneaked into a Goleta, Calif., home where Cheri Domingo and Gregory Sanchez were sleeping. Their bludgeoned bodies were found the next day when a real estate agent stopped by with prospective buyers. Sanchez had been shot in the head, possibly during a struggle.

And with that, the killer ended his streak of violence in the Santa Barbara area. His next – and final – known homicide victim, 18-year-old Janelle Cruz, came five years later in Orange County.

So after 1986 did he stop, as some serial killers have been known to do? Or did the alleged Golden State Killer, a former Auburn policeman, use his knowledge of crime scene investigations to change his method of killing? Those who worked on the case have different theories.

Last month, police identified Citrus Heights resident James Joseph Deangelo, 72, as the Golden State Killer. He has been charged with eight murders, including those of Cruz, Domingo, and Sanchez, Paul Holes, retired Contra Costa investigator who spent 24 years investigating the “Golden State Killer,” is photographed outside the Sacramento District Attorney’s office.

but is said to have committed at least 12 premeditated killings, as well as approximately 50 rapes and hundreds of burglaries throughout California.

Paul Holes, a retired Contra Costa District Attorney inspector who is

credited with using ancestry websites to identify Deangelo, thinks it’s most likely that the Golden State Killer stopped.

He believes that the attack on Sanchez, 27, and Domingo, 35, helps explain why.

“Before he killed Sanchez, he’s in a physical fight with him,” Holes said. “I think he left that crime scene scared and thinking he could have been killed or captured.”

Including Sanchez and Domingo’s deaths, the Golden State Killer was linked to three home invasions and four homicides in Santa Barbara County from 1979 to 1981, three homicides in Orange County and a double-homicide in Ventura, which is in Los Angeles County just south of Santa Barbara.

After Sanchez and Domingo were killed, his next known attack wasn’t until May 4, 1986, in Irvine, when he broke into Cruz’s home, raped her and bludgeoned her to death. Cruz was home alone; her family was on vacation and she’d stayed behind to earn extra money at her job at a pizza parlor. Her boyfriend left the home earlier in the evening, shortly after they’d heard a thumping sound outside.

“I think it’s telling there wasn’t a male present (with Cruz),” Holes said. “I think that underscores that Gregory Sanchez scares him ... when he ran into Cruz, a beautiful young woman, his impulses took over and he couldn’t help himself.”

“By then, he was 41,” Holes said. “Not over-thehill by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s getting older.”

It is a myth that serial killers don’t stop; some of the most notorious in history. Zodiac, the Green River Killer, and or the one who called himself “BTK” (Bind, Torture Kill) for example, had periods of dormancy and eventually stopped.