Golden State Killer may finally be caught

[Jaepheth]

They have a suspect in custody for this famous cold case.

After a more than 40-year search, authorities think they have the Golden State Killer in custody
By Elizabeth I. Johnson, Alanne Orjoux and Ray Sanchez, CNN

Updated 3:48 PM ET, Wed April 25, 2018

Joseph James DeAngelo has been identified as the so-called Golden State Killer believed to have committed 12 killings and at least 50 rapes across California from 1976 to 1986, authorities said. The 72-year-old suspect is being held without bail in Sacramento on two murder counts. "The answer has always been in Sacramento," Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said.
DeAngelo was arrested after police matched discarded DNA evidence from his Sacramento area home with genetic evidence from the crimes, Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said.
The suspect has been charged with capital murder and other counts in connection with the 1980 slayings of Lyman and Charlene Smith, Totten said at a news conference outside the Sacramento crime lab where authorities matched DeAngelo to the crimes.

 

[umbrella39]

Wow. If this is true this is some seriously good news for a lot of families who are still looking for answers 40 years later...

DNA finally caught up. Never too late to rot in jail.

"DeAngelo is a former Auburn, California, police officer who was fired in 1979 for shoplifting a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a drugstore, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. He worked as a police officer in Exeter and Auburn between 1973 and 1979."

So if he is indeed the killer he started his killing spree while still employed as a LEO... Unreal...

 

[Thump553]

Ex-cop as a mass murderer/serial rapist. That's a bit out of the ordinary.

 

[kage69]

I listened to Patton Oswalt get interviewed on NPR not too long ago. They spoke a lot about the book he finished for his wife Michelle, who passed away suddenly. It was a project for her to hunt this guy down, and I remember sitting there in the car being very impressed and humbled by Oswalt, and saying out loud something to the effect of, 'How awesome would it be if they actually get this guy now.'

This is great news, I can't imagine how happy he is (not to mention the victims families) but it must be bitter sweet, not being able to celebrate with Michelle. Getting this guy involved a lot of time and hard work by many people, but Michelle and Oswalt played a role.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

I listened to Patton Oswalt get interviewed on NPR not too long ago. They spoke a lot about the book he finished for his wife Michelle, who passed away suddenly. It was a project for her to hunt this guy down, and I remember sitting there in the car being very impressed and humbled by Oswalt, and saying out loud something to the effect of, 'How awesome would it be if they actually get this guy now.'

This is great news, I can't imagine how happy he is (not to mention the victims families) but it must be bitter sweet, not being able to celebrate with Michelle. Getting this guy involved a lot of time and hard work by many people, but Michelle and Oswalt played a role.

What his wife wrote is so prophetic now.

 

[kage69]

This stick out to anyone else? From OPs link:

"DeAngelo is a former Auburn, California, police officer who was fired in 1979 for shoplifting a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a drugstore."

My how the times have changed.

 

[dank69]

Yeah but he is a cop so he'll skate.

 

[Greenman]

Yeah but he is a cop so he'll skate.

Not even maybe. Everybody wants this guy. At the press conference, they never called him a suspect, they called him a killer and a rapist, and never once even hinted that it might not be the right guy. It was a little off the rails.

 

[compuwiz1]

Wow! We just drove right past his house. Scary that he only lived 3 minutes from us. They have the crime scene all taped off and still several police and FBI there. They also have access to the neighbor's house blocked off. Nice neighborhood and house. Never know where people like this will be found.

 

[Zaap]

Awesome they finally nailed that bastard.

 

[umbrella39]

Wow! We just drove right past his house. Scary that he only lived 3 minutes from us. They have the crime scene all taped off and still several police and FBI there. They also have access to the neighbor's house blocked off. Nice neighborhood and house. Never know where people like this will be found.

Damn! That's too close to home... 6 degrees of P&N always finds one of our backyards...

 

[who?]

He committed all but one of his crimes from the ages of 30 to 35 then the last one at 40 then nothing and now he's arrested at 72. I'm wondering what his triggers were. Was he committing his crimes when he was married? Is his ex-wife going to feel guilty about this?
This is if the investigator who said that the Visalia ransacker case isn't related is right.
Now they're saying that he is the Visalia ransacker.

 

[Muse]

What his wife wrote is so prophetic now.

Why would he read that. Fact is he didn't have a TV. He told his neighbor that and that he "likes to keep busy," he'd repair his boat and motorcycle. He'll likely die on death row. Creepy this story, I just read it in length in today's SF Chronicle. I suppose you'd class him a psychopath. He was good at not getting caught. 45 rapes, ~12 known murders (likely more), 150 burglaries... and they never caught him. Said in the article that some in law enforcement figured he might be LE also or ex military based on his m.o., and he was both. He is a divorcee and has two girl children. If I were them, I'd never want to see or talk to him again and would do my best to forget him entirely.

 

[Muse]

This stick out to anyone else? From OPs link:

"DeAngelo is a former Auburn, California, police officer who was fired in 1979 for shoplifting a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a drugstore."

My how the times have changed.

How you mean? How have they changed?

In 1979 he was already a rapist and a killer, he wasn't a killer until after he was a rapist for a few years. My thought is that the dog repellent and hammer he shoplifted were intended for his hobby - breaking and entering and subsequent actions. He probably didn't make a habit of shoplifting but since it was for his illegal adventures he felt a desire to obtain them illegally.

Yeah but he is a cop so he'll skate.

Ha, they have him dead to rights, his goose is cooked. He'll probably have a public defender. The most any lawyer can hope to do for him is keep him from being executed. Um, or maybe make a pile of money by writing a book like the lawyer who wrote Helter Skelter about the Manson family, etc.

He committed all but one of his crimes from the ages of 30 to 35 then the last one at 40 then nothing and now he's arrested at 72. I'm wondering what his triggers were. Was he committing his crimes when he was married? Is his ex-wife going to feel guilty about this?
This is if the investigator who said that the Visalia ransacker case isn't related is right.
Now they're saying that he is the Visalia ransacker.

Yeah, I didn't see anything about those questions in the lengthy story in today's SF Chronicle (top story on page one of section A). No hints about when he was married, how old his children are. More will come out in the coming days, maybe weeks.

 

[Zaap]

How you mean? How have they changed?

Pretty sure he's suggesting a cop today gets away with a lot more than minor shoplifting before getting fired.

Anyway, his being a cop 40 years ago means squat to the case against him. (As in being granted any kind of slack for it). People spouting that ignorance don't know anything about the case.

From what I've read it's been long suspected he may be a cop because he likely had some knowledge of police methods and knew what to avoid.

The five year gap from 1981 to 86: I heard an intersting theory that one of his daughters was born in 1980 exactly around the time he stopped. Presumably then when she was 5 he resumed.

That or there's more murders and rapes during that time we don't yet know about.

I hope he's one of those psychos that loves talking about his crimes to authorities. Once caught and nothing to lose sometimes these creeps will want every one of their offences counted to secure their rank in psycho history. I hope this turd is a braggart .

 

[kage69]

How you mean? How have they changed?

What I meant was I found that citation of straight-forward justice over petty theft to be in stark contrast to today, a time where police murdering people - and it being filmed - sometimes doesn't even involve dismissal, let alone prison time. Look at Eric Gardner's death. Who faced the music? The person who filmed him getting jumped and choked out, permanently.

 

[shortylickens]

Yeah but he is a cop so he'll skate.

No.

He wont.

This is decades later and murdered & raped a crap ton of people.

If it were an active duty policeman shooting one black kid today, he might slide.

 

[who?]

Vincent Bugliosi who wrote "Helter Skelter" was a prosecutor not a defense attorney. A defense attorney might not be allowed to write such a book due to attorney client privilege.
If you're thinking of sending your DNA for analysis you can wonder if something like this will come up. I wonder if anybody will start telling their relatives that DNA is BS and that they shouldn't send their spit away.

 

[Muse]

Vincent Bugliosi who wrote "Helter Skelter" was a prosecutor not a defense attorney. A defense attorney might not be allowed to write such a book due to attorney client privilege.
If you're thinking of sending your DNA for analysis you can wonder if something like this will come up. I wonder if anybody will start telling their relatives that DNA is BS and that they shouldn't send their spit away.

Yeah, he was the prosecutor, not the defense lawyer, and you make a good point. I wouldn't want to defend DeAngelo (what a misnomer!). He's about as indefensible as it gets. DNA? Well, it's a godsend to law enforcement, obviously the greatest tool since finger prints and in many ways it is better than finger prints. Would I be nervous about sending my DNA? Well, never occurred to me. I'm not a criminal for one. If you are the heinous criminal type they are apt to get your DNA into their data at some point. DNA forensics is only going to get better, I figure.

I'm wondering about a lot of things with this case, facts that evidently haven't come out or haven't been reported, at least I didn't see them in the considerable story I read in yesterday's paper. Why did it take so long to finger this guy? How did the DNA sleuthing proceed? I'm really curious about this stuff. I also wonder why it takes so long to process DNA investigations. They often seem to say that making a DNA ID for someone can take weeks. I don't know why and am curious.

 

[compuwiz1]

Yeah, he was the prosecutor, not the defense lawyer, and you make a good point. I wouldn't want to defend DeAngelo (what a misnomer!). He's about as indefensible as it gets. DNA? Well, it's a godsend to law enforcement, obviously the greatest tool since finger prints and in many ways it is better than finger prints. Would I be nervous about sending my DNA? Well, never occurred to me. I'm not a criminal for one. If you are the heinous criminal type they are apt to get your DNA into their data at some point. DNA forensics is only going to get better, I figure.

I'm wondering about a lot of things with this case, facts that evidently haven't come out or haven't been reported, at least I didn't see them in the considerable story I read in yesterday's paper. Why did it take so long to finger this guy? How did the DNA sleuthing proceed? I'm really curious about this stuff. I also wonder why it takes so long to process DNA investigations. They often seem to say that making a DNA ID for someone can take weeks. I don't know why and am curious.

Apparently, a relative of his submitted their DNA to one of those ancestry sites and that made his circle much smaller. From there, as a suspect, they were able to obtain some of his discarded DNA, possibly from things in the trash. From there, they found a credible match. Still fuzzy to me, but it makes sense, a little.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Apparently, a relative of his submitted their DNA to one of those ancestry sites and that made his circle much smaller. From there, as a suspect, they were able to obtain some of his discarded DNA, possibly from things in the trash. From there, they found a credible match. Still fuzzy to me, but it makes sense, a little.

And all of the DNA submission sites are denying it was them who cooperated. Apparently they matched to more than one relative which really narrowed it down.

 

[compuwiz1]

And all of the DNA submission sites are denying it was them who cooperated. Apparently they matched to more than one relative which really narrowed it down.

The trial should be interesting. I'll be interested in following this to it's conclusion, which will hopefully be a guilty verdict. I hope they televise it. The last murder trial that I followed closely was Orenthal's. We got Juiced by that jury. OJ should be on death row.

 

[Thump553]

Apparently, a relative of his submitted their DNA to one of those ancestry sites and that made his circle much smaller. From there, as a suspect, they were able to obtain some of his discarded DNA, possibly from things in the trash. From there, they found a credible match. Still fuzzy to me, but it makes sense, a little.

Exactly why I will never sign up for one of those ancestry deals. It would be interesting to find out, but the fact that this information is turned over to the government is absolutely abhorrent to me. I firmly believe that the right to privacy is the bedrock of our Constitutional rights.

I would bet that insurance companies are getting their hands on this information as well, which is even more disturbing.

A bunch of my relatives have already done these tests so odds are I'm in the databanks involuntarily anyway.

 

[dawp]

I have no issue with the dna testing companies, I haven't done any serious crimes and if any of my relatives have so be it.

one thing tho is I have read elsewhere that dna isn't foolproof, that it can be transferred by casual contact and end up at a location you've never been to. with the history of these crimes I don't think that will be a problem.

https://www.forensicmag.com/article/2015/11/secondary-transfer-new-phenomenon-touch-dna

 

[Zaap]

If you haven't left your DNA at the scene of a rape, I can't imagine why anyone would fear using genealogy sites. This guy's relatives are probably amoung the happiest he was caught thanks to them. Imagine casually having holiday dinners with the damn Golden State Killer, or the Zodiac or whoever. Talk about the ultimate creepy uncle.

This was a fantastic use of DNA technology. Those imagining that DNA testing is such a casual thing that'd it be used blindly so that the nefarious 'THEM' can once again get all your precious info... grow up already.

If there's a serial rapist hiding in your family somewhere, that's who should be worried.