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18FE008017SolvedHomicideLast verified

The Golden State Killer

A solved homicide case from Sacramento, California, Sep 11, 1975. It was resolved on Aug 21, 2020.

When
Where
Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento County
Investigating
Sacramento County District Attorney's Office (with Contra Costa, Orange, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura County DAs and the FBI)

The case

Our summary of the public record. The small numbers show where each fact comes from.

For more than four decades, a serial offender known by several names, the East Area Rapist, the Original Night Stalker and eventually the Golden State Killer, was linked by investigators to a string of murders, sexual assaults and burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s. Prosecutors later put the charged murders between September 11, 1975 and May 5, 1986, in six counties from Tulare to Orange.

The case went cold for decades despite composite sketches, task forces and an FBI publicity campaign. In April 2018, investigators announced that they had arrested Joseph James DeAngelo, a 72-year-old former police officer, in Sacramento County. Officials said the break came from comparing crime-scene DNA with profiles in a public genealogy database, building family trees, and then confirming the match with DNA collected from DeAngelo himself. It was the first widely publicized use of investigative genetic genealogy and it changed cold-case work across the country.

Six district attorneys consolidated the case in Sacramento. On June 29, 2020, in a hearing held in a Sacramento State University ballroom to allow social distancing, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of kidnapping to commit robbery, and admitted dozens of uncharged crimes. The plea deal took the death penalty off the table. After several days of statements from survivors and families, he was sentenced on August 21, 2020 to multiple consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

Timeline

  1. Earliest murder later charged in the consolidated case, according to prosecutors.1

  2. Last murder in the charged series, according to prosecutors.1

  3. The FBI released composite sketches of the suspect as part of a renewed public appeal.7

  4. Joseph James DeAngelo is arrested in Sacramento County.12

  5. Sacramento County DA's Office and partner agencies hold a press conference on the arrest; officials later describe the genealogy database lead.28

  6. Six district attorneys announce the case will be consolidated and prosecuted in Sacramento County.1

  7. DeAngelo pleads guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of kidnapping to commit robbery.35

  8. DeAngelo is sentenced to consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.46

Key facts

Each one checked against a source.

  • The charged crimes spanned Contra Costa, Orange, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties.1
  • Investigators identified DeAngelo by matching crime-scene DNA to relatives in a public genealogy database, then confirming it with his own DNA.8
  • DeAngelo had worked as a police officer in the 1970s.8
  • The guilty plea spared him a possible death sentence; he also admitted to dozens of uncharged crimes.5
  • Prosecutors said the crime spree involved 87 victims across 11 California counties.6

Open questions

  1. How many other unsolved cases could investigative genetic genealogy resolve, and how should its use be regulated?

Why it stands out

The case that made investigative genetic genealogy famous: a 40-year-old serial case broken by matching crime-scene DNA to distant relatives in a public genealogy database, which opened the door to hundreds of other cold-case solves.

Photos and video

Official releases, public-domain and openly licensed files, credited. Tap a photo to see it larger.

FBI composite sketch of the East Area Rapist suspect, released during the 2016 publicity campaign.
FBI composite sketch of the East Area Rapist suspect, released during the 2016 publicity campaign.Federal Bureau of Investigation (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Sources

Everything in this file comes from these. News coverage is linked, never copied.

Official records

  1. 1Six District Attorneys Unite to Consolidate Golden State Killer Case in Sacramento CountyOrange County District Attorney's Office, Aug 21, 2018
  2. 2East Area Rapist Press Conference 2018 04 25 (video)Sacramento County District Attorney's Office (YouTube), Apr 25, 2018
  3. 3Press Conference: Plea Hearing (video)Sacramento County District Attorney's Office (YouTube), Jun 29, 2020
  4. 4Press Conference: Sentencing Hearing (video)Sacramento County District Attorney's Office (YouTube), Aug 21, 2020

Databases

  1. 7Sketch of the East Area Rapist Suspect (FBI image, file page)Wikimedia Commons

News coverage

  1. 5Golden State Killer pleads guilty to 13 murders, admits to multiple rapesCourthouse News Service, Jun 29, 2020
  2. 6California's Golden State Killer sentenced to life for 26 rapes, murdersThe Boston Globe (AP), Aug 21, 2020
  3. 8Investigators: DNA from genealogy site caught alleged 'Golden State Killer'ABC7 New York (AP), April 2018

Related files

Same county, same state or the same kind of case.

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