Former California policeman arrested in decades-old ‘Golden State’ serial killer case, subject of bestselling book
Authorities tie Joseph James DeAngelo through DNA evidence to eight murders from the 1970s and 1980s, but the case involves 12 killings and 45 rapes
An elderly former policeman has been arrested and charged with eight murders attributed to the Golden State Killer, a serial criminal responsible for dozens of rapes and slayings that terrorised parts of California during the 1970s and 1980s, authorities said on Wednesday.
The suspect was identified at a Sacramento news conference as Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, in a case officials said was finally solved by DNA evidence about two months after gaining renewed attention in the bestselling book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones credited the book with helping to generate new tips but said no information was “extracted from that book that directly led to the apprehension”.
The FBI has previously said that the man sought in the 40-year-old case was tied to 12 slayings, 45 rapes and more than 120 burglaries in and around Sacramento, the eastern San Francisco Bay area and southern California.
The crime spree spanned 10 California counties in all, said Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who recalled she was 12 in 1976 when a wave of violent home invasions shattered a “time of innocence” in which area residents routinely left their doors unlocked.
