DNA leads to ex-officer’s arrest in ’70s, ’80s crime spree

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A DNA match led to the arrest of a 72-year-old former police officer in one of the most baffling and sadistic crime sprees of the 1970s and ’80s — a string of at least 12 slayings and 50 rapes in California by an attacker dubbed the Golden State Killer, police said Wednesday.

Armed with a gun, the masked attacker also known as the East Area Rapist would break into homes while single women or couples were sleeping. He sometimes tied up the man and piled dishes on his back, then raped the woman while threatening to kill them both if the dishes tumbled. He often took souvenirs, notably coins and jewelry, from his victims, who ranged in age from 13 to 41.

The match led to Joseph James DeAngelo, who was fired in 1979 from the police department in Auburn, northeast of Sacramento. Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, his name had not been on authorities’ radar before last week, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said.

“We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there,” Schubert said. “We found the needle in the haystack, and it was right here in Sacramento.”

A break in the case and the arrest came together in “light speed” over the past six days, she said, though authorities refused to reveal what led to DeAngelo.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said detectives with “dogged determination” were able to get a sample of DNA from something DeAngelo discarded, though he wouldn’t say what the item was. The genetic material was not a match, but there were enough similarities for investigators to return for more and they said they were able to get a conclusive match.

After watching DeAngelo for several days, deputies took him by surprise at his home in Citrus Heights on Tuesday, Jones said.

DeAngelo was arrested in double-killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties and later charged with four counts of murder in Orange County, officials said.

Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten said that before prosecutors decide whether to seek the death penalty, there will be a “solemn and formal death review process that typically takes many months before a decision is made.”

DeAngelo, who served in the Navy, was a police officer in Exeter, in the San Joaquin Valley, from 1973 to 1976, Jones said. Then, he transferred to the force in Auburn in the Sierra foothills near where he grew up outside Sacramento.

About 50 crimes, including two killings, were attributed to the East Area Rapist during the three years DeAngelo worked in Auburn, but Jones said it wasn’t clear if any were committed while on duty.

DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn department in 1979 after being arrested for stealing a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a drug store, according to Auburn Journal articles from the time. He was convicted of the theft and fined $100.

Ten slayings occurred after he was fired, and all took place in Southern California.

Although it’s unusual for serial killers to stop, Jones said investigators have no reason to think DeAngelo continued to commit crimes after 1986, when the last rape and killing occurred in Orange County.

As the crimes unfolded across the state, authorities called the attacker by different names. He was dubbed the East Area Rapist after his start in Northern California, the Original Night Stalker after a series of Southern California slayings and the Diamond Knot Killer for using an elaborate binding method on two of his victims.

He was most recently called the Golden State Killer.

Jane Carson-Sandler was sexually assaulted in 1976 in her home, which also was in Citrus Heights, by a man believed to be the East Area Rapist. She said she received an email Wednesday from a retired detective who worked on the case telling her that the rapist had been identified and is in custody.

“I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It’s an emotional roller-coaster right now,” Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head, S.C., said in a telephone interview. “I feel like I’m in the middle of a dream and I’m going to wake up and it’s not going to be true.”

Neighbors said DeAngelo took meticulous care of his house, which was always perfectly painted and his lawn manicured. But he was known for an explosive temper and loud cursing.

Kevin Tapia said that when he was a teenager, DeAngelo accused him of throwing things over their shared fence, prompting a heated exchange between DeAngelo and his father.

“No one thinks they live next door to a serial killer,” Tapia said. “But at the same time I’m just like, he was a weird guy. He kept to himself. When you start to think about it you’re like, I could see him doing something like that, but I would never suspect it.”

In 2016, the FBI and California officials renewed their search for the attacker and announced a $50,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. He has been linked to more than 175 crimes between 1976 and 1986.