Holy Shit, Police Might Have Arrested The Infamous Golden State Killer
The serial killer became infamous for the sadistic nature of his crimes.
The Golden State Killer terrorised California in the seventies and eighties, carrying out 12 murders and at least 45 rapes. Also known as the East Area Rapist and the Original Nightstalker, the identity of the notorious killer has gone unsolved for more than three decades.
However, DNA evidence has allegedly tied the identity of the Californian serial killer to a 72-year-old former police officer named Joseph James DeAngelo. He was taken into custody outside his home in Sacramento on Tuesday and charged with six counts of murder.
DeAngelo is charged with the murder of Lyman and Charlene Smith in 1980 and is also suspected of killing Brian and Katie Maggiore in 1978, officials said. DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979 after he was arrested for stealing a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a drug store.
“We found the needle in the haystack, and it was right here in Sacramento,” said Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert. He lived only half an hour from where the killer began his spree of murder and rape. The Golden State Killer is infamous for his masked attacks on women and couples in their homes while the occupants were sleeping.
He was known for breaking into people’s homes while heavily armed and wearing a mask. He would sometimes tie up his female victims’ partners and place dishes on their backs. He would then threaten to murder both of them if he heard the dishes crash, and the men would be forced to listen as their partners were assaulted.
The notorious case recently came back into the public spotlight after the publication of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, written by crime writer Michelle McNamara, who tragically died in April 2016. The book, posthumously published in February, was completed by journalist Billy Jensen after McNamara’s death.
When you read the suspect was once arrested for shoplifting “dog repellant and a hammer” in Sacramento. #goldenstatekiller #michellemcnamara #IllBeGoneInTheDark pic.twitter.com/KjWDbwIboH
— Billy Jensen (@Billyjensen) April 25, 2018
After the news of the killer’s arrest came to light, McNamara’s husband, well-known actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, took to Instagram to credit McNamara’s work for helping with the arrest. “I think you got him, Michelle,” he said on the video.