Joseph James DeAngelo
Deputies arrested Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. in the side yard of his Sacramento home on the afternoon of the 24th of April 2018. He was 72 years old, a retired truck mechanic and a former police officer. For more than four decades, California investigators had chased a man who went by several different names. One was the Visalia Ransacker. Another was the East Area Rapist. A third was the Original Night Stalker. Each name belonged to a different region and a different set of detectives, and for years many of them did not believe they were hunting the same person. How could one man move through the state for so long without being identified? Why did agencies holding pieces of the puzzle fail to compare them? And what finally led investigators to a house in suburban Sacramento?
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was born on the 8th of November 1945 in Bath, New York. His mother was Kathleen "Kay" Louise DeGroat, and his father, Joseph James DeAngelo Sr., was a sergeant in the United States Army. He had two sisters and a brother, and both parents regularly abused him. While the family was stationed in West Germany, two airmen forced him to witness the rape of one of his sisters in a warehouse on a U.S. Air Force base.
Between 1959 and 1960 he attended Mills Junior High School in Rancho Cordova, California. In 1961 he began at Folsom High School, where he played junior varsity baseball and later received a GED certificate in 1964. Prosecutors say that as a teenager he committed burglaries and mail theft, and that he tortured and killed animals.
In September 1964 he joined the United States Navy, serving 22 months during the Vietnam War as a damage controlman. In August 1968 he enrolled at Sierra College in Rocklin, California, and graduated with honors with an associate degree in police science. In 1971 he started at Sacramento State University and earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. He then took postgraduate courses at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia and finished a 32-week police internship with the Roseville Police Department.
At Sierra College, in May 1970, he became engaged to a nursing student and classmate named Bonnie Jean Colwell. She ended the engagement in 1971 after he turned manipulative and abusive. The last straw came when he demanded that she help him cheat on an abnormal psychology test. After the breakup, he tried to force her to marry him by threatening her with a gun.
In November 1973 he married Sharon Marie Huddle of Citrus Heights, in a ceremony in Auburn. In 1980 the couple bought a house in Citrus Heights, and they owned a second home in Long Beach where they lived for much of the 1980s. Huddle became a divorce attorney in 1982. They had three daughters, two born in Sacramento and one in Los Angeles, and they separated in 1991. Huddle filed for divorce in July 2018, a few months after his arrest. Neither she nor the children had suspected serious crimes. His eldest daughter described him as a "perfect father," and his wife had accepted his explanations for being away from home.
His jobs in the 1980s are unclear, though he is suspected of working as a computer engineer and as a cashier. From 1990 until he retired in 2017, he was a truck mechanic at a Save Mart Supermarkets distribution center in Roseville. In 1996 he was arrested for failing to pay for gasoline, but the charge was dismissed.
His brother-in-law recalled that DeAngelo would casually bring up the East Area Rapist in conversation at the time of the original crimes. Neighbors described frequent loud, profane outbursts. One family received a phone message threatening to "deliver a load of death" because of their barking dog. When he was arrested, he was living with a daughter and a granddaughter.
From May 1973 to August 1976, DeAngelo worked as a burglary-unit police officer in Exeter, having moved there from Citrus Heights. In that job he helped search for the Visalia Ransacker, who was himself. He then served in Auburn from August 1976 to July 1979. Nick Willick, who later became Chief of Police there, remembered an unremarkable officer who stood too close to colleagues and citizens. When Willick pointed this out, DeAngelo sulked.
In July 1979 DeAngelo was arrested for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent. He soiled himself, faked a heart attack and fought store security. When deputies arrived, he rolled around on the chair he was tied to, feigning madness, until he admitted it was an act. He received six months of probation and was fired that October.
During the firing process, he allegedly stalked Willick's home. Willick's daughter told her father that a man had shone a flashlight into her room, but Willick dismissed it. DeAngelo had filed a work-related stress claim against the city. He told a therapist investigating that claim that he had gone to Willick's house but could not find the bedroom. Willick assumed this was a ploy. On the 14th of March 2018, after DeAngelo emerged as a potential suspect, investigator Paul Holes phoned Willick and heard the story. Holes realized then that he had found the man he was looking for.
The first recorded ransacking in Visalia came on the 19th of March 1974, when a burglar took $50 in coins from a piggy bank. What followed was strange for a burglar. He rifled through or vandalized belongings, scattered women's underclothes, and took low-value items while ignoring banknotes and valuables in plain sight. He often arranged or displayed objects around the house. Piggy banks and coin jars were emptied, and he took Blue Chip Stamps, foreign or historic coins, and personal oddments such as single earrings, cuff-links, rings and medallions. He also took six weapons and various types of ammunition. On the 30th of November 1974 alone, there were 12 separate incidents.
Over 20 months, about 120 burglaries and one murder are attributed to him, and the same habits kept repeating. He climbed fences and moved along parks, walkways, ditches and trails. He tried to pry open several entry points, especially windows, and left multiple escape routes open. He carried removed window screens onto beds or into bedrooms and propped dishes or bottles against doors and door handles as warnings. He wore gloves, which explained the lack of fingerprints.
Visalia crimes dating back to May 1973 are now suspected to belong to the same trail. So are a spree attributed to the "Cordova Cat Burglar," during which several dogs were killed by blunt force, and the crimes of the "Exeter Ransacker." Investigators long suspected that Visalia was where the criminal who became the East Area Rapist trained.
On the 11th of September 1975, the Ransacker broke into the home of Claude Snelling, a 45-year-old journalism professor at the College of the Sequoias. Snelling had already chased a prowler away from the bedroom window of his 16-year-old daughter, Beth, on the 5th of February that year. Around 2:00 a.m. in September, strange noises woke him. He went out through the open back door and found a ski-masked intruder in the carport, trying to kidnap Beth. The intruder had subdued her with threats of stabbing or shooting. Snelling was shot twice, staggered back into the house to his wife, and later died. The assailant punched and kicked Beth, left her on the ground and fled.
A stolen bicycle linked to the attacker turned up nearby at 615 Redwood Street. Beth underwent hypnosis to recover more details. Visalia police committed more resources and posted a $4,000 reward, and nighttime stakeouts were set up near houses the prowler had visited. The ransackings continued anyway.
Around 8:30 p.m. on the 12th of December 1975, Detective William McGowen waited inside a garage at 1505 W. Kaweah Avenue, near where the Ransacker was known to roam. A masked man entered the back yard. McGowen tried to detain him and fired a warning shot. The man shrieked, removed his mask and feigned surrender. Then he jumped the fence to the house at 1501, pulled a revolver with his left hand and fired once near McGowen's face, shattering the detective's flashlight. Officers rushed in, but the shooter escaped. Evidence included the flashlight, tennis shoe tracks and dropped loot, namely Blue Chip Stamps and a sock full of coins. McGowen said he had probably seen the man before.
In late April 2018, the Visalia chief of police said no DNA linked DeAngelo to the Central Valley cases but that his department had other evidence. He declared himself "confident that the Visalia Ransacker has been captured." The statutes of limitations on the burglaries had long expired. On the 13th of August 2018, DeAngelo was formally charged with the first-degree murder of Claude Snelling, and he pleaded guilty to it in 2020.
By the 18th of December 1976, when 15-year-old Kris Pedretti became his tenth victim, DeAngelo had moved to the Sacramento area and turned from burglary to rape. His attacks centered on the then-unincorporated suburbs east of the city, including Carmichael, Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova. Pedretti was home alone while her parents were at a Christmas party. At 6:00 p.m., as she played the piano, a man in a ski mask put a knife to her throat and said, "Do what I say or I'll kill you and be gone in the dark." Those last words would later become the title of Michelle McNamara's book on the case. The ordeal lasted more than two hours. Pedretti later described the police questions and the rape kit that followed as the second and third victimizations of that night.
His early method was to stalk middle-class neighborhoods at night, looking for women alone in one-story homes, usually near a school, creek, trail or other open space that offered a quick escape. He was seen a number of times but always got away. On one occasion he shot and seriously wounded a young pursuer. Most victims had earlier seen or heard a prowler on their property, and many had suffered break-ins. Police believed he scouted a neighborhood extensively, peering into windows and prowling yards, before choosing a house. He sometimes entered homes in advance to unlock windows, unload guns and plant ligatures. He also phoned future victims, sometimes months ahead, to learn their routines.
Eventually he preferred couples. Investigators believe this shift followed media reports saying he attacked only women who were alone. He would break in through a window or sliding glass door and wake the sleepers with a flashlight and a handgun. Shoelaces, often found or brought along, bound the victims, and towels torn into strips served as blindfolds and gags. The woman was usually forced to tie up her male companion before being bound herself. He then separated the couple and stacked dishes on the man's back, threatening to kill everyone if he heard them rattle. He sometimes stayed for hours, ransacking closets and drawers, eating in the kitchen and drinking beer.
In one 1978 attack, the 37th, police later reported that he repeatedly said, "I hate you, Bonnie." That was the first name of his former fiancée.
On the night of the 2nd of February 1978, Brian Keith Maggiore, 21, a soldier at Mather Air Force Base, and his 20-year-old wife Katie Lee Maggiore were walking their dog in Rancho Cordova. Five East Area Rapist attacks had occurred nearby. After a confrontation in the street, the couple fled but were chased down and shot to death. A shoelace was found nearby. Some investigators suspected the rapist, and the FBI announced on the 15th of June 2016 that it was confident he had killed them. DeAngelo pleaded guilty to these murders on the 29th of June 2020.
Inside the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, officials had linked four attacks by September 1976 but asked the media to wait until October to report it. On the 18th of May 1977, with 23 rapes on record, Visalia Detective Bill McGowen traveled to Sacramento to see whether the East Area Rapist and the Ransacker were the same man. After the Maggiore murders, the sheriff's office adamantly denied any link and accused the Visalia investigators of looking for publicity. One deputy said the department wanted the glory of the arrest and that egos got in the way. Carol Daly also described competition between divisions.
The list of attacks runs to 50 and spans Sacramento, Contra Costa, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Alameda, Santa Clara and Yolo counties. The last entry is a Danville attack on the 5th of July 1979.
On the 1st of October 1979, an intruder tied up a couple in Goleta, in Santa Barbara County, and alarmed them by muttering "I'll kill 'em" to himself. When he left the room, they tried to escape and the woman screamed. He fled on a bicycle. A neighbor who was an FBI agent chased him until he abandoned the bicycle and a knife and ran off through backyards. DeAngelo had moved to Southern California, and from here on his attacks became killings. Only the couple in that first attack survived. The attacks ran through 1981, with a single one in 1986.
On the 30th of December 1979, Dr. Robert Offerman, a 44-year-old orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Debra Alexandria Manning, a 35-year-old clinical psychologist, were found shot to death in Offerman's condominium on Avenida Pequena in Goleta. Offerman's bindings had been untied, suggesting he lunged at the attacker. Paw prints of a large dog led to speculation that the killer brought one, but the dog was later found to be stolen. The killer ate leftover Christmas turkey from the refrigerator and left the remnants in the kitchen.
On the 13th of March 1980, Charlene Smith, a 33-year-old interior designer, and her husband Lyman Smith, a 43-year-old attorney, were killed in their Ventura home. Lyman's 12-year-old son found them three days later when he stopped by to mow the lawn. The bedroom alarm clock was still ringing. Charlene's wrists had been tied with an unusual diamond knot, the same knot noted in East Area Rapist attacks, so the killer was briefly called the Diamond Knot Killer.
On the 19th of August 1980, Keith and Patrice Harrington were found dead in their home in the Niguel Shores gated community of Dana Point. They had been married for three months. Patrice was a pediatric nurse in Irvine, and Keith was a fourth-year medical student at UC Irvine, on course to graduate early that December. Keith's brother Bruce later spent nearly $2 million supporting California Proposition 69, which authorized DNA collection from all California felons and certain other criminals.
On the 6th of February 1981-28-year-old Manuela Witthuhn was killed in her Irvine home while her husband David was in the hospital with an illness. The killer kept stalking David and phoned the house several times after the murder. Police and neighbors suspected David himself, and the suspicion deepened when he married a sympathetic co-worker, Rhonda, not long afterward. He became an alcoholic, and the marriage ended after nearly a decade. DNA testing later cleared him. He died in 2008.
On the 27th of July 1981, Cheri Domingo, 35, and Gregory Sanchez, 27, were attacked at a Toltec Way house in Goleta, a few blocks south of Offerman's condominium. Domingo was staying there temporarily, and the house was for sale. The killer entered through a small bathroom window. Some believe Sanchez recognized the danger and tried to tackle the killer rather than be tied up.
In May 1986-18-year-old Janelle Lisa Cruz was found dead in her Irvine home while her family was on vacation in Mexico. The house was for sale, and a realtor showing it to a prospective buyer found her. A pipe wrench reported missing by her stepfather was thought to be the weapon.
Because nobody connected these crimes to DeAngelo for decades, Santa Barbara County investigators called their man the Night Stalker. The murders in Ventura, Irvine and Dana Point were tied together by DNA before 2000, and the attacker was renamed the Original Night Stalker after Richard Ramirez had been given the earlier nickname.
Sergeant Jim Bevins, who headed the Sacramento Sheriff's Department task force on the rapist, and Richard Shelby both suspected the Goleta murders belonged to the East Area Rapist. Bevins called the Santa Barbara sheriff's office, which denied it outright. Larry Crompton of the Contra Costa County task force got the same reaction, and he did not learn of the murders until March, three months later. Crompton alleges the silence was because Ronald Reagan owned a ranch in Santa Barbara County and the office wanted no media attention. Santa Barbara detective Kim Stewart gave a similar account, saying the department struck a deal with a board of realtors not to publicize certain crimes.
In 1997, Paul Holes contacted Crompton, who shared his theory that the Offerman and Manning killings were the rapist's work. Santa Barbara's sheriff's office told Holes it had no similar cases, but pointed him toward Irvine police, who were doing something with DNA. Holes's lab used older PCR technology and Irvine's used newer STR technology, so he could not make the connection.
In 2001, DNA tied several Contra Costa County rapes to the Smith, Harrington, Witthuhn and Cruz murders. The combined name EARONS was born. A decade later, DNA showed that the Domingo and Sanchez killings were also his. The case was a factor in building California's DNA database, which collects DNA from all accused and convicted felons and has been called second only to Virginia's in solving cold cases.
In December 1977, someone claiming to be the East Area Rapist sent a poem titled "Excitement's Crave" to The Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento mayor's office and the television station KVIE. The verses invoke "Jessie James" and "Son of Sam." They suggest that Sacramento should make an offer for a movie of the author's life, one that would pay for his planned exile. The poem is signed "Your East Area Rapist."
On the 9th of December 1978, investigators in Danville found three sheets of notebook paper near where a suspicious vehicle had reportedly been parked. They believe the pages fell accidentally from a bag. The first sheet seems to be a homework essay on General George Armstrong Custer. The second is a journal-style entry beginning "Mad is the word," in which the writer recalls a sixth-grade teacher who made students write sentences for hours. The author calls the punishment humiliating and shameful. The third sheet is a hand-drawn map of a suburban neighborhood, with the word "punishment" scrawled on the back. Investigators could not identify the place, though the artist clearly understood architectural layout and landscape design. Detective Larry Pool concluded it was a fantasy location representing where the rapist wished to strike.
On the 18th of March 1977, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office took three calls from a man claiming to be the rapist. None was recorded. The first two, at 4:15 and 4:30 p.m., were identical and ended with the caller laughing and hanging up. In the third, at 5:00 p.m., he said: "I'm the East Side Rapist and I have my next victim already stalked and you guys can't catch me."
By December 1977 the calls were being recorded. On the 2nd of December, a caller told the Sacramento Police Department, "You're never gonna catch me, East Area Rapist." On the 9th, a rape victim answered her phone to silence, then a hoarse whisper: "Merry Christmas. It's me again." He hung up fast. She said she would never forget that voice. On the 10th, shortly before 10:00 p.m., authorities received two identical recorded calls: "I am going to hit tonight. Watt Avenue." Police recognized the voice from the 2nd. Patrols increased. At 2:30 a.m., a masked man on a bicycle on the Watt Avenue bridge eluded officers. When spotted again at 4:30 a.m., he dropped the bicycle and ran off on foot.
On the 2nd of January 1978, the first known rape victim received a wrong-number call asking for "Ray." Police suspect it was the same caller who phoned her again that evening with threats. That second call was recorded, and she identified the voice as her assailant's. On the 6th of January, a man claiming to be the rapist called the Contact Counseling Service and said, "I have a problem. I need help because I don't want to do this anymore." After a short conversation he said, "I believe you are tracing this call," and hung up.
In October 1982, a former victim answered the phone at her workplace, a Denny's restaurant, and heard the rapist threaten to attack her again. Paul Holes thought he must have chanced to eat there and recognized her. In 1991, another former victim spoke with him for a minute. She could hear a woman and children in the background, which led to speculation that he had a family.
On the 6th of April 2001, the day after The Sacramento Bee reported the link between the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist, one more victim got a call. He asked, "Remember when we played?"
Joe Alsip, a friend and business partner of murder victim Lyman Smith, was arraigned for the Smith killings in 1982 after his pastor said Alsip had confessed during a family-counseling session. The charges were later dropped, and DNA testing confirmed his innocence in 1997. He was one of many suspects eliminated over the decades. Gregory Gonzalez of Garden Grove attended the same drug rehabilitation class as Janelle Cruz. An informant said he had confessed, and he was arrested, but charges were dropped a year later when a blood test cleared him. Paul "Cornfed" Schneider, a high-ranking Aryan Brotherhood member living in Orange County at the time of several murders, was cleared by a DNA test in the 1990s. Brett Glasby of Goleta, a Santa Barbara County suspect, was murdered in Mexico in 1982, before Cruz was killed.
On the 15th of June 2016, the FBI and local agencies announced a renewed nationwide push. They released new composite sketches and crime details, offered a $50,000 reward and set up a national database to handle tips. Crime writer Michelle McNamara had coined the name "Golden State Killer" in the 2010s to raise awareness of the case.
In December 2017, officials led by detective Paul Holes and FBI lawyer Steve Kramer began the identification. They hit an early roadblock when District Attorney Tony Rackauckas rejected their request for a DNA sample and told Irvine police not to release it. A pristine sample from the Smith murder came instead from a duplicate rape kit, something Ventura's medical examiner uniquely did.
Investigators uploaded the killer's DNA profile from the Ventura County rape kit to the genealogy website GEDmatch. It identified 10 to 20 people who shared great-great-great-grandparents with the killer. A team of five investigators working with genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter used that list to build a large family tree. Officials later said they constructed about 25 family trees, and the one that ultimately led to DeAngelo contained roughly 1,000 people. Over a few months they used age, sex and place of residence to remove names one at a time. They reached two suspects, and a relative's DNA test ruled out one, leaving DeAngelo.
On the 18th of April 2018, investigators secretly collected a DNA sample from the door handle of DeAngelo's car. They later took another from a tissue in his curbside garbage can. Both matched samples from Golden State Killer crimes. Since then, some commentators have raised ethical concerns about the secondary use of personally identifiable information.
On the 10th of May 2018, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's office charged DeAngelo with four more counts of first-degree murder, adding to the eight filed after his arrest. According to Sacramento County prosecutor Thien Ho, DeAngelo spoke to himself in an interrogation room after his arrest and said, "I pushed Jerry out and had a happy life." He also said that he had destroyed the victims' lives and now had to pay the price. Prosecutors believe this was a tactic to manipulate police or to lay the groundwork for an insanity defense. DeAngelo had admitted using a similar tactic during his 1979 shoplifting arrest.
The statute of limitations had expired for the rapes and burglaries, so he faced 13 counts of murder and 13 counts of kidnapping instead. DeAngelo was arraigned in Sacramento on the 23rd of August 2018. In November 2018, prosecutors from six counties estimated that the case could cost taxpayers $20 million and take 10 years. On the 10th of April 2019, they announced they would seek the death penalty, and the judge ruled that cameras could be allowed in the courtroom.
Prison was not the only question after his arrest, because DeAngelo was also suspected in other deaths. These included the 1974 Visalia murder of Jennifer Armour, the 1975 Exeter murder of Donna Jo Richmond, and a 1978 Simi Valley killing of a woman and her son. DNA testing cleared him in all four. Victoria Police in Australia, where DeAngelo had docked during his Navy service, ruled out any link to the Melbourne child rapist and murderer known as "Mr Cruel."
On the 4th of March 2020, DeAngelo offered to plead guilty if the death penalty was taken off the table, but the offer was not accepted at the time. On the 29th of June 2020, as part of a plea bargain that avoided execution, he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances, including murder during burglaries and rapes, and to 13 counts of kidnapping. He also admitted to numerous uncharged crimes, including rapes.
On the 21st of August 2020, after days of victim impact statements, he received multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He offered a brief apology: "I've listened to all your statements, each one of them, and I'm truly sorry to everyone I've hurt." Prosecutors have speculated that his motive was a desire for power and control, rooted in a sense of powerlessness and inadequacy in his personal life. In November 2020 he was transferred to North Kern State Prison. As of February 2025, he is held in protective custody at California State Prison, Corcoran.
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Common questions
Who is Joseph James DeAngelo?
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., born on the 8th of November 1945 in Bath, New York, is a former police officer known as the Golden State Killer. He committed thirteen murders and numerous rapes and burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986.
What names was Joseph James DeAngelo known by?
DeAngelo was known as the Visalia Ransacker, the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker. In 2001, DNA showed the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker were the same person, producing the combined name EARONS. Crime writer Michelle McNamara later coined "Golden State Killer."
How was Joseph James DeAngelo identified and caught?
Investigators uploaded the killer's DNA profile to the genealogy website GEDmatch and used relatives' matches to build family trees. Those trees led to DeAngelo, and DNA collected on the 18th of April 2018 from his car door handle and a tissue in his garbage matched crime samples.
When was Joseph James DeAngelo arrested?
Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies arrested DeAngelo on the afternoon of the 24th of April 2018 in the side yard of his Sacramento home. He was 72 years old and was initially charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.
What was Joseph James DeAngelo's sentence?
On the 21st of August 2020, DeAngelo received multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He had pleaded guilty on the 29th of June 2020 to 13 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of kidnapping, in a plea bargain that spared him the death penalty.
Was Joseph James DeAngelo a police officer?
DeAngelo served as a burglary-unit police officer in Exeter from May 1973 to August 1976, then in Auburn from August 1976 to July 1979. He was arrested for shoplifting in July 1979 and fired that October.
All sources
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- 87NewsProwler fires at officer, escapesGary Pedersen — December 11, 1975
- 88NewsCase 53: The East Area Rapist – 1976 (Part 1)Anna Priestland — 15 May 2017
- 90Golden State Killer: woman reveals path to healing after surviving attack from serial killerPedretti, Kris — SBS News — June 22, 2021
- 91NewsSacramento is up tight over rapist and threatsMay 20, 1977
- 93NewsHear the Golden State KillerMichelle McNamara — February 27, 2013
- 94NewsRape fear hovers in Sacramento ValleyMarch 25, 1977
- 95NewsSacramento Area Rapist Sends Public into StreetsDale Fetherling — May 22, 1977
- 96NewsCity in Fear of Rapist's Kill ThreatMay 19, 1997
- 97NewsSacramento rapist hits again – 27th time in 16 monthsBill Packer — November 11, 1977
- 98News$50K reward offered for 'Original Night Stalker' as 40th-anniversary nearsJune 15, 2016
- 100NewsSuspect in Brutal 1983 Fairfield Murder Commits Suicide After Positive DNA TestCBS — March 5, 2014
- 101NewsRapist claims 25th victimOctober 22, 1977
- 102NewsMan Hunted As Suspect in 8 RapesNovember 4, 1976
- 103NewsEast Area Rapist ... fear grips serene neighborhoodsNovember 10, 1976
- 105NewsGlenbrook Housewife is RapedJanuary 19, 1977
- 107NewsEast Area Rapist Attacks? 15th AssaultFebruary 7, 1977
- 108NewsLurker Shoots YouthFebruary 17, 1977
- 109NewsRape May Be Linked to SeriesMarch 8, 1977
- 110News'East Side Rapist' suspected againMarch 20, 1977
- 111News18th Rape Victim in East AreaApril 15, 1977
- 112NewsEast Area Rapist Attacks 20th Victim in OrangevaleMay 5, 1077
- 113NewsEast Area Rapist Attacks 22nd Victim at HomeMel Assagai — May 15, 1977
- 114NewsEast Area Rapist Attacks No. 23May 17, 1977
- 115NewsEast Area Rapist Hits South: Victim 24Ted Bell — May 29, 1977
- 116NewsPolice Certain East Area Rapist Struck in StocktonWayne Wilson — September 7, 1977
- 117NewsEast Area Rapist Returns to District, Assaults Teen-Aged Girl in Duplex.October 2, 1977
- 118NewsRapist Gets 25th VictimWarren Holloway et al. — October 21, 1977
- 119NewsCouple Terrorized by East Area RapistPaul Mapes — October 30, 1977
- 120NewsEast Area Rapist Attacks Girl, 13November 10, 1977
- 121NewsTeen-age boys scare off rapistJohn Hammarley — December 4, 1977
- 122NewsEast Rapist Assaults Teen SistersThom Akeman — January 30, 1978
- 123NewsEast Rapist in StocktonMarch 19, 1978
- 124NewsEast Rapist Kicks in Door, Attacks Sitter in South AreaApril 16, 1978
- 125NewsEast Area Rapist Strikes in ModestoJune 7, 1978
- 126NewsEast Area Rapist Strikes ModestoJune 7, 1978
- 127NewsRapist Accredited with 2 AttacksJune 27, 1978
- 128NewsEast Area Rapist Returns to Davis, Assaults MotherBill Wilson — July 7, 1978
- 129NewsTwo Concord rapes in week ascribed to East Area RapistMel Assagai et al. — October 14, 1978
- 130NewsArea rapist strikes in ConcordOctober 14, 1978
- 131NewsRape's aftermath raises issue of suburban safetyDecember 10, 1978
- 132NewsTimeline: List of Golden State Killer attacksApril 25, 2018
- 133NewsAll of the crimes tied to the East Area Rapist/Golden State KillerNBC KCRA 3 — April 25, 2018
- 134NewsEast Area Rapist Hits in FremontApril 6, 1979
- 135NewsWalnut Creek teen rape survivor recalls crime, community's helpMalaika Fraley — July 17, 2011
- 136NewsDanville Woman Latest Victim of Capital's East Area RapistJune 13, 1979
- 137NewsEast Area Rapist attacks 13 year-oldJune 26, 1979
- 139Help Us Catch the East Area RapistJune 15, 2016
- 140NewsAfter 40 years, 12 slayings, and 45 rapes, the 'Golden State Killer' still eludes policeKatie Mettler — June 16, 2016
- 141Reward offered in 40 year-old California serial killer caseDon Thompson — June 15, 2016
- 145Suspected Golden State Killer, a former police officer, arrested on 'needle in the haystack' DNA evidenceJoseph Serna, Richard Winton, Sarah Parvini, Melanie Mason, John Myers — April 25, 2018
- 146NewsSheriff's BlotterOctober 10, 1979
- 147NewsLawyer, wife found slain in Ventura homeSkip Rimer et al. — March 17, 1980
- 149NewsCounty slayings: Not all cases are closedTim Alger — January 3, 1982
- 1501981 Goleta murders tied to unknown serial killerSamantha Scroggin — May 6, 2011
- 151NewsMotive and slayer sought in murdersJanuary 2, 1980
- 153BookHunting a Psychopath: The East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker investigation – the original investigator speaks outRichard Shelby — Booklocker — 2014
- 154NewsSlain attorney, wife were beaten to deathMarch 19, 1980
- 155News'Night Stalker' Theory Connecting Eight Southland Slayings DisputedJohn Hurst — August 2, 1981
- 156NewsThe Golden State Killer left a trail of horror with taunts and guileDan Barry et al. — April 28, 2018
- 157JournalFingering a killerDan Logan — October 1988
- 158NewsVictims' relatives urge public to help solve serial killingsJack Leonard — October 5, 2000
- 159NewsDNA testing sheds new light on Original Night Stalker caseSteve Chawkins et al. — May 6, 2011
- 160News'Original Night Stalker' focus of new cable specialSean Emery — May 5, 2009
- 161Until DNA tied his wife's murder to serial killer, an OC man under suspicion 'went off the deep end'Gilbertson, Annie — LAist — April 26, 2018
- 162NewsTie hinted in pair of Goleta murdersEric Malnic — July 29, 1981
- 163ONS Attack No. 6Cold Case: East Area Rapist
- 165NewsPublic's Help Sought with New Clue in 1981 Original Night Stalker Double Murder in GoletaWilliam M. Macfadyen — September 7, 2013
- 166NewsInvestigators Don't Know When The Golden State Killer's Crimes Stopped Or If There Are More Victims Still Out ThereJim Dalrymple II — May 2, 2018
- 168BookShe Survived: JaneJane Carson-Sandler et al. — Pinnacle Books — 2015
- 170Tulare DA: Golden State Killer not suspect in Exeter teen's 1975 murderBrian Johnson — ABC 30 — January 8, 2019
- 171DNA clears Golden State Killer suspect in girl's murder. Old conviction standsLewis Griswold — January 8, 2019
- 173Framed by the Golden State Killer?Lilia Luciano — ABC 10 — October 18, 2019
- 174NewsHe just got $21 million after 39 years wrongly locked up. He has one cop to thank for freeing himAntonia Noori Farzan — February 25, 2019
- 175Exonerated man now works to educate law enforcementMelissa Simon — December 5, 2019
- 176NewsInvestigators reportedly sought links between Australia's 'Mr. Cruel' and the Golden State KillerKatie Dowd — August 24, 2018
- 177BookUnmaskedPaul Holes — Celadon Books — 2022
- 178NewsUnsolved MysteryMichael Bowker — Sep 2003
- 179NewsPolice Seeking to Link Rapist to Snelling SlayerMiles Shuper — 18 May 1977
- 181NewsSacramento Bee: Police Debate Tie Between East Area Rapist, KillingsWayne Wilson — 13 Mar 1980
- 182BookSudden TerrorLarry Crompton — Authorhouse — 30 July 2010
- 183I'll Be Gone in the Dark Episode 3 "Rat in a Maze" - Recap & ReviewLindsay Lee Wallace — 2020-07-13
- 184News'Night Stalker' Theory Connecting Eight Southland Slayings Disputed.John Hurst — 2 August 1981
- 185NewsIn Brief: Masked Bike Rider Eludes PoliceMcClatchy — December 12, 1977
- 186NewsOriginal Night Stalker: Could O.C. clues lead to killer?Claudia Koerner — Freedom Communications — September 10, 2013
- 187NewsCase 53: The East Area Rapist 1978–1979 (Part 4)June 3, 2017
- 188Attack #15Kat Winters
- 191NewsNew details released in hunt for 'Golden State Killer'Ana Garcia — Crime Watch Daily — December 12, 2017
- 192Pt. 2: New Clue in East Area Rapist MysteryChris Hansen — Crime Watch Daily — December 12, 2017
- 193NewsPolice Debate Tie Between East Area Rapist, KillingsWayne Wilson — McClatchy — March 13, 1980
- 194News30 year-old slayings of Goleta couple linked to serial killerSteve Chawkins — May 5, 2011
- 195News$50,000 reward for California's 'most prolific' serial killer 30 years onMark Piggott — June 15, 2016
- 197BookUnmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold CasesPaul Holes — Celadon Books — 26 Apr 2022
- 198How an N.J. pathologist may have helped solve the 'Golden State Killer' caseStephen Stirling — April 26, 2018
- 199NewsShe helped crack the Golden State Killer case. Here's what she's going to do nextHeather Murphy — August 29, 2018
- 200NewsTo find alleged Golden State Killer, investigators first found his great-great-great-grandparentsJustin Jouvenal — Nash Holdings — April 30, 2018
- 201Search warrantSacramento County, California
- 202NewsWhat the Golden State Killer case means for your genetic privacySusan Scutti — Turner Broadcasting Systems
- 203BookHunting a PsychopathRichard Shelby — Booklocker.com, Inc. — 2015
- 204NewsCourt says inmate must give DNA / Suspect in 20 year-old murdersCharlie Goodyear et al. — Hearst Publishing — April 25, 2002
- 205NewsDNA Tests Clear Convict in Ventura Killings Paul Schneider Didn't Kill Attorney Lyman Smith, WifeColleen Cason — Gannett — July 3, 2002
- 206The Silent WitnessColleen Cason — Gannett — November 28, 2002
- 207BookHunting a PsychopathRichard Shelby — Booklocker.com, Inc. — 2016
- 208NewsDNA Findings Throw New Light on Old Case ByAron Miller — Gannett — October 8, 2000
- 211NewsSacramento Sheriff's Department arrests Visalia Ransacker, confirms he was an officer of the Exeter Police Department in 1973Paul Myers — Ogden Newspapers Inc. — April 25, 2018
- 212BookUnmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold CasesPaul Holes — Celadon Books — 2022
- 213NewsEx-Cop Arrested in Golden State Killer Case: 'We Found the Needle in the Haystack'Thomas Fuller et al. — April 25, 2018
- 214NewsSanta Barbara County DA files charges in murders believed connected to Golden State KillerMegan Diskin — Gannett — May 10, 2018
- 215NewsJoseph James DeAngelo Jr. pleads guilty to murders tagged to California's Golden State KillerGannett — June 29, 2020
- 216PodcastEvilLos Angeles Times — 22 December 2022
- 217NewsGolden State Killer suspect arraigned in Sacramento courtMelody Gutierrez — 2018-08-23
- 218Golden State Killer Trial: Joseph DeAngelo Case Could Last 10 YearsAmelia McDonell-Parry et al. — Wenner Media — December 7, 2018
- 219NewsGolden State Killer suspect appears in court nearly one year after arrestSan Francisco, California — April 10, 2019
- 220Golden State Killer one year laterCNN — April 24, 2019
- 221Hearing details ghastly crimes of Golden State Killer as he pleads guilty to killingsTurner Broadcasting Systems — June 29, 2020
- 222NewsJoseph DeAngelo pleads guilty in Golden State Killer casesJune 29, 2020
- 225'Golden State Killer' addresses the court: 'I'm truly sorry'Emily Shapiro
- 226News'May you rot in prison': US 'Golden State Killer' victims speak out19 August 2020
- 228Golden State Killer arrives at prison to start life sentenceNovember 3, 2020
- 230MagazineHelp us catch a killer
- 231ReportUnmasking a KillerCNN — 2018-02-13